Kitsune and Dragon
by Lightning Bob
Summary: Naruto and his halfbrother have lost their parents the night Kyuubi attacked Konoha. What will happen to them now and what promises have been made between certain clans? Please read and review.
1. Celebration and Sorrow

Kitsune and Dragon

I don't own Naruto, but I wish I do.

Chapter 1: Celebration and sorrow

Arashi Uzumaki stood next to his wife in the hospital, the maternity ward actually. On her other side was Ryuu no Denko, the King of Thunder, father of Michiko Uzumaki's first child, Denko, but not by choice. Michiko is currently in labor with her second child, a boy as far as they knew, who they already decided his name would be Naruto. Denko, who is almost a year old, was staying overnight at the Hyuuga complex with his aunt who was going to have a child herself soon. The Byakugan revealed that the baby is a girl and had chosen Hinata as her name.

Back in the delivery room Michiko squeezed the hands of Arashi and Ryuu no Denko so hard that cracking was herd yet they showed no sign of pain. With a final scream of pain and crushing the hands of the two men Naruto was born wailing at the top of his tiny lungs, bringing smiles to all that were present.

"Hokage-sama, you have a healthy baby boy. What will you name him?" a medic nin asks.

"His name is Uzumaki Naruto. How is Michiko doing?" Arashi asks holding his newborn son in his arms leaving the remains of a fake hand in his wives hand as did Ryuu no Denko.

"She's not doing so well, she'll be lucky if she survives the night." the medic nin explains.

"Hokage-sama! Kyuubi is attacking the village! We're suffering heavy losses and can't hold him off much longer!" a chuunin yells after slamming the door open.

"Ryuu, hold Kyuubi off until I get there, I need to find Hiashi Hyuuga." Arashi says quickly and disappeared from the room with Naruto in his arms while the chuunin left the way he came and Ryuu no Denko escaped through a nearby electric outlet that transported him to the battlefield almost instantly through the power lines.

"Hiashi come with me now, Kyuubi is attacking Konoha." Arashi says when he found the Hyuuga clan head.

"Hai!"

At the battlefield, Ryuu no Denko was currently in his true form, a five hundred foot long serpentine dragon with large wings, short, strong arms, electric blue hair running down his spine with same color scales covering the rest of him, wrapping himself around the nine-tailed fox demon and delivering electric shocks that were strong enough to kill a human. The kitsune's fur blazed with kitsune bi, burning the coils that held him. Fortunately that was all that was needed to stop Kyuubi long enough for Arashi who carried Naruto in his arms, and Hiashi to arrive at the scene.

"Hiashi I want you to raise Naruto and Denko as your own children if Ryuu and Michiko don't make it through the night."

"Arashi! What the hell are you planning to do?" Hiashi yells.

"I plan to save the village, what else?" Arashi says simply with his trademark smirk that got him many fan girls when he was younger. That smirk also meant that he was about to get himself into serious trouble soon.' I'm sorry my son. We were together for only minutes but I hold no regrets and together we will be the hero's of Konoha tonight as father and son!'

Arashi went through a long series of hand seals and drew a seal on Naruto's tiny body. As he did so, Kyuubi delivered a fatal bite to Ryu no Denko's throat who in turn quickly caused his muscles to spasm and held Kyuubi even after he died. Arashi finished his seals to see his best friend make the ultimate sacrifice and quickly sealed Kyuubi inside Naruto's tiny body and soon their souls became one, the kitsune's soul was calmed by the enormous amount of love shown by the one who sacrificed his life for his village and family, and by the innocence of the child he was now within and his demonic power spread through the babies body. His tiny fingernails and toenails grew into tiny claws, his ears disappeared from the sides of his head and moved to the top of his head as tiny kitsune ears, the pupils in his bright blue eyes narrowed into slits, and a kitsune tail grew from the base of his spine.

"Arashi! Arashi! You can't die on us, not now!" Hiashi cries catching Naruto and Arashi before they hit the ground.

"As my last order as Hokage... I want you to take Uzumaki Denko and Uzumaki Naruto... and raise them as your own. I sense that Michiko has moved to the next world... she's waiting for me with Ryuu. Hiashi my friend... take the clan scrolls from my library with Ryuu's... teach them well. I hope I don't see you... too...soon..." Arashi spoke no more as the breath left his body with his soul to join the friend he viewed as a brother and his wife in the Netherworld with a smile.

"Arashi, my Hokage, I will" Hiashi whispers as he takes Naruto back to his wife to take care of before he went to the town council to discuss what to do next.

To be continued...

Please review

Lightning Bob


	2. New Additions

Kitsune and Dragon

I don't own Naruto but I wish I do.

Chapter 2: New Additions

Two months after Denko and Naruto were brought to the Hyuuga estate was a time for celebration, some say it was a Christmas present that took the long way to get there, the reason was that the Hyuuga heir was born, Hinata. A healthy newborn girl with a tuft of blue-black hair and easily recognizable Hyuuga eyes. A scene that touched her parent's hearts happened when Hiashi brought Naruto to see Hinata. When Naruto was close enough his tail tickled Hinata and she grabbed the tail and proceeded to snuggle with it. Naruto, only two months old, simply snuggled with her and they fell asleep together. Hizashi, Hiashi's twin brother, was entertaining his son, Neji, and Denko. Apparently during the two months that the boys were together they became close friends and even partners in 'crime'. They had learned that if either one of them dropped food on the floor someone would get it. So somehow when one of them would throw their food on the floor, a servant or whoever was lucky enough to get the job of feeding them would bend over to get it off the floor as soon as possible, and as soon as they did they would find the boys experimenting what their reaction would be when certain foods or drinks would be put in/on certain places of their body and clothes. Soon the boys had an even greater challenge: doing the same thing when the servants were using the Byakugan to watch them and avoid the mess, with a sixty percent success rate and dropping fast.

Over the next year Denko and Neji got bored with making a mess at meal times after they had a ninety-five percent success rate at 'beating' the Byakugan for a week straight. Now they have moved to roaming the estate and the park and doing harmless pranks since they were only two. At the same time, Naruto and Hinata started to do the same thing that Denko and Neji did but not to the same extreme, but they preferred to see how long the servants would take to notice that the food was in their hair, pockets, or stuck to various parts of their person. In all of Konoha, the Hyuuga clan rapidly became known as the most vigilant clan since the Kyuubi attacked but only those who went to the park while the Uzumaki and Hyuuga children were there.

No one saw a Hyuuga without an Uzumaki in the same room, unless of course their prank involved them being in separate rooms. Neji was always with Denko and Hinata with Naruto. Years went by Neji and Denko started at the academy when they were six and that same year Hanabi was born. But those two events brought new fears to the Hyuuga; the boys were learning to be shinobi beyond what they were taught at home. Hanabi was even worse, whenever she had a dirty diaper everyone would know because of the smell, even people who happened to be a block away and downwind had the 'pleasure' to smell it. After a week it was Naruto who gave the idea to suck it up and put the vapors in little tablets that broke open shortly after a small amount of chakra was applied to them. Everyone in the compound was required to carry a large amount of empties with them and learn the jutsu that sucked the noxious vapors from the air. After just one of these stink bombs went off in Iruka's pocket when demonstrating a jutsu for the class gave everyone a new reason why to fear the Hyuuga clan; the Byakugan, the Jyuuken fighting style, and the Hanabi Death Bombs.

Over the years Hiashi had noticed a change in his heir, something that he investigated while Naruto and Hinata slept together- they refused to be separated unless they 'had to go potty'- with his Byakugan. He noticed that trace amounts of Kyuubi's distinctive red chakra would transfer itself from Naruto's hanyou body to Hinata's human one. At the same time he noticed gradual changes in her physical appearance, her ears became pointed and twitched when they heard a sound and all of her senses became stronger and that wasn't just from her training to be a Hyuuga kunoichi and heiress. He also noticed that there was a chakra build up at her tailbone, the reason he could only guess.

Today is Naruto and Hinata's first day at the academy and are on the street with Neji and Denko. "I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait." Naruto and Hinata were repeating in perfect harmony.

"We'll be there soon now stop dancing around us!" Denko says effectively stopping the chant but it didn't stop them from bouncing around the older boys. They weren't just excited about starting at the academy, but they are going to play pranks on all of the sensei as a start of the year present.

"So what are we gonna do again?" Naruto asks forgetting what kind of prank they were going to pull that morning.

"We're simply gonna make sure all the sensei are awake this morning with a classic water over the door prank." Denko explains, "It's just to let them know that there is a second team of Hyuuga and Uzumaki!"

SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH "HYUUUUUUGAAAA!!!! UUUZUMAAAAAKIIIIII!!!!! GET IN IRUKA SENSEI'S ROOM NOW!" Was what the whole village of Konoha when classes at the academy were to start.

"Iruka sensei, it was just a harmless joke." Denko tried to explain, again.

"The point is that you should stop with the stupid tricks and just concentrate on your shinobi training-"Iruka began.

"But setting up the pranks is just like how we are supposed to set up traps in the field." Neji says causing the four children to smirk slightly.

"As true as that may be I do not appreciate being pelted by water balloons when I go to teach a class."

"Does that mean we can hit you with them anywhere else?" Naruto asks as innocently as he can.

"No."

"Does it mean that the other sensei like it?"

"No."

"Can we do it to the other sensei outside of class?"

"No." Iruka says again with his fingers crossed where the pranksters could easily see them.

"Are we allowed to do any other pra-"

"NO! Now get to class!" Iruka yells with enough force to make the hair of all four students to be blasted backwards. The two Hyuuga's and Uzumaki's quickly left the room for their classes.

'It's going to be a long six years…Denko and Neji are hard enough already and now there are two more. At least they caught the hint so they'll get the other sensei; I'm not the favorite for nothing.' Iruka thinks before snickering as he heads to his first class to teach to find that his sensei-in-training had his silver hair died bright pink.

"Oi Hinata! Naruto!" Naruto and Hinata look up to the back of the classroom to find their friends sitting together. Hinatas closest friends are Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. Naruto's friends are Inuzuka Kiba, his partner Akamaru, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and his biggest rival, Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto and Sasuke competed against each other with just about anything and both are too stubborn to know when to quit.

"What's up guys?" Naruto asks them as they reach the group.

"Great job with the pranks this morning, simple yet very effective." Kiba says with the all the others but Sasuke agreeing.

"Thanks guys, maybe you could help with some of the other pranks we have planned while we're in this place." Naruto says with a wide foxy grin that Hinata liked and made all the others laugh at the possibilities except Shikamaru who said "Troublesome" with a small smile, and Sasuke who simply ignored them.

Five years later Neji graduated as the number one rookie of the year with Denko as the close second. The day after they graduated they were placed on a four man team instead of the usual three with Tenten and Rock Lee, and their Jounin sensei is Maito Gai. They easily and quickly passed the green spandex wearing Jounin's test. They found that Gai-sensei is the Taijutsu master in Konoha, Lee saw him as a role model and started dressing and acting like his sensei and is determined to become a taijutsu master because of his inability to utilize Genjutsu or Ninjutstu. Tenten is a kunoichi who is a weapons specialist with extreme precision when either throwing or holding her weapons and seemed to have an endless arsenal. Neji has been training with Hiashi and Hizashi with the Jyuuken style and intends to develop the style and his Byakugan past what it is known to do currently. Denko developed a form of the Jyuuken where he shuts down an opponent's nervous system instead of their chakra system and began to wield a kodachi that he could increase its effectiveness with his lightning abilities.

The next year it was Uchiha Sasuke who nominated rookie of the year with Naruto and Hinata tied for second. Over the years at the academy, Naruto grew two more tails in addition to the two he had prior coming to the academy. Hinata when she first started only had heightened senses and pointed ears, now she had fox ear on top of her head like Naruto that are covered by blue-black fur like her three tails do, and grew claws on her fingers and toes in place of nails.

"Everyone listen up, I'm going to tell you what teams you'll be in." Iruka began and all the new genin became quiet. "Team seven, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Inuzuka Kiba." All of the girls but Hinata groaned at not being on a team with the Uchiha Avenger while Sakura did a little cheer and began rubbing her 'good fortune' in the other girls' faces. "Team eight, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. Blah blah. Team ten, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino." Naruto and Hinata who had their tails wrapped around each others' waists quickly began hugging each other and bouncing in their seats in happiness because they are on the same team. "Ok everyone, your jounin-sensei will be here in one hour, take the time to get to know your teammates and eat lunch. You're dismissed and good luck."

To be continued….

AN- All right guys and girls, I'll be adding more Japanese terms in the story as I learn more of the language (I also have a Japanese dictionary next to me for reference) and I hope all of my readers review so I know how much you like it. If anyone can give me a good site to get techniques translated into Japanese it would be greatly appreciated.

See ya!

Lightning Bob


	3. Team Ten

Kitsune and Dragon

I don't own Naruto but I wish I do.

Chapter 3: Team Ten

During the one free hour that the new genin teams had before they met their jounin sensei one would find Sakura following Sasuke around like a lost puppy and trying to get his attention while Kiba and Akamaru followed them at a distance in case if Sasuke's fan girls would show up and start a fight. The Ino-Shiko-Chou team sat on a balcony that was part of the academy and complained about things being troublesome, not having enough to eat, and not being on Sasuke's team was what was heard the most. Team ten was much more cooperative from the very start, possibly because two thirds of the team was already a nearly seamless team to start. Now they just had to add Shino to their plans, they both knew very well that all of the Aburame clan were very logical in all of their decisions and had the ability to understand any bug that they met and used that to their full advantage when controlling the kikai colony that they housed in their own bodies, exchanging home and chakra for their services. It was also a widely known and respected fact that their back fists are very powerful and could easily send an unlucky opponent flying several meters through the air. Now team ten was simply enjoying a simple lunch under a tree outside of the shinobi academy, Naruto and Hinata shared an extra large bento and got to know Shino and his colony as they ate from their own bento.

From her place in a tree not too far away, a jounin kunoichi with red eyes and brown hair watched the team that she that she was to test, and so far they were doing exceptionally well, even if the Aburame boy rarely even talked the kitsune seemed to understand what he was saying just having them look at him. She already knew that the kitsune seemed to have some kind of telepathic link between the two of them where they could tell what the other was thinking, feeling, and where the other was. Those abilities were just what she was looking for in a team, unity, strength, willingness, and capable of silent communication. That is what she was exactly looking for because she specialized in reconnaissance missions but that didn't mean she couldn't do infiltration and assassinations, it was a special skill that came with being a genjutsu specialist. Hopefully she could get her team to excel in that areas, besides kitsune are legendary tricksters.

An hour later the genin teams are back in the classroom sitting with their respective teams as the jounin sensei came to take their teams away to get to know them. Team eights sensei turned out to be the chain smoking jounin, Sarutobi Asuma. Tem tens sensei revealed herself to be Yuuhi Kurenai. When they left team sevens sensei had yet to show up, Kurenai was quick to figure that their sensei was to be Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Nin who was always late for everything but life and death situations and during missions.

"So tell me who you are, your likes and dislikes, hobbies, and your dreams for the future." Kurenai says when they reached practice field fourteen.

"Ano, sensei, what do you mean? Shouldn't you go first?" Hinata asks voicing the teams' confusion whether they showed it or not.

"Alright I'll go first, my name is Yuuhi Kurenai, I like music and cooperation, and I don't like senseless killing, perverts, and those who think kunoichi are weak. My hobbies are reading and singing karaoke and my dream for the future is to make any team that I am part of successful. Ok blondie, you're next."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I like Hinata-chan, ramen, and playing pranks. I hate the three minutes you have to wait for ramen and people who judge others by their appearance. My hobbies are snuggling with Hinata-chan, playing pranks, and training, and my dreams are to marry Hinata-chan and become Hokage!"

"Alright good, you're next vixen."

"Ano, I'm Hyuuga Hinata, I like Naruto-kun, making medical ointments, and pranking with Naruto-kun. I don't like people who think that they're better than others because they have a Kekkai Genkai. My hobbies are snuggling with Naruto-kun, making medical ointments, and playing pranks, and my dreams are to marry Naruto-kun and lead the Hyuuga clan with compassion."

'Good, hopefully she stays with that dream and doesn't grow too pompous like most of that clan.' "Alright bug boy, your turn."

"My name is Aburame Shino, I like my clans' colonies, and I don't like people who kill bugs thinking that they are pests. My hobbies are caring for my clans' colonies, studying rare species, and I dream to form a perfect unity with the colonies and myself."

'Figures, short, logical, and to the point.' "Now that the introductions are out of the way, we can start the real test to see if you deserve to b called genin." 'From what I saw earlier you three should pass within a few minutes.'

"What do you mean? We already took a test to become genin!" Naruto yells voicing the confusion for al three of them.

"That was just a simple test to see if you have the skills to be genin, this test is to see if you three know what it means to be a shinobi. Your test will be to locate and obtain the scroll that I have hidden here at this practice field. You may begin when I leave and you have two hours to complete the test. Oh, a word of caution for you, this test has a sixty-six point six-six percent failure rate. Good luck." As soon as Kurenai finished she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Sixty-six percent chance of failure? How are we supposed to pass with those odds?" Hinata asks more to herself than to the others.

"I believe that the point is to work as a team. Use your Byakugan to find the scroll and any traps that she may have set." Shino says from behind his high-collared trench coat.

"Oh right." Hinata says and quickly performs the necessary seals to activate her Kekkai Genkai. Meanwhile Naruto was scanning the practice field and taking in the terrain. The whole field was covered with training logs that were placed sporadically among the clumps of tall grasses and bamboo, there were a few scattered small trees, bushes, and large boulders. Evidently the field was capable of concealing a vast amount of traps and required stealth to sneak up on the target.

"I found it. It's on top of the log surrounded by thick bamboo. It'll be hard for any of us to slip in there unnoticed." Hinata explains. "There's also a few genjutsu of various levels all over the place."

"My bugs and I will obtain the scroll for us, you two distract her to weaken her concentration on the genjutsu. I have already planted a female on Kurenai-sensei so I will send a small swarm to weaken her even more." Shino says after a few seconds.

"Sounds good to me, lets go." Naruto says with a nod of agreement from Hinata.

Hidden among some tall grass and bamboo, Kurenai is listening to the young shinobi with a small listening devise she dropped there before she left and watching their actions with a simple sight enhancement jutsu. To her they already passed, but figured it would be more fun to see how they would do against her, and she knew what their plan was.

Nearby Naruto and Hinata are sneaking closer to Kurenai from different sides, Naruto kept to the bright, golden grass where his blonde fur blended well while Hinata kept to the shadows where her dark fur helped to hide her from immediate attention. Shino had sent two small swarms of his bugs to follow his teammates as he slowly slipped to where Hinata said the scroll was located as his kikai insects ate the chakra that molded the genjutsu around them.

_"Hinata-chan, are you ready?"_ Naruto thought to Hinata.

_"Hai, attack in three, two, one, GO!" _ Hinata thought back and both kitsune jumped from their hiding spots. Naruto dashed straight at Kurenai and launched three small balls of the legendary kitsune bi followed by an attempted leg sweep. Kurenai dodged the blue fireballs with ease and jumped over the leg sweep only to have her legs swept from under her as she landed by Naruto's tails. Rolling out of the fall Kurenai stood back up facing Hinata in a basic Jyuuken stance and already attacking. She knew that even a glancing blow from a Jyuuken strike could do serious damage, so Kurenai had to devote nearly all of her concentration to avoid the younger girls' dangerous attacks.

Meanwhile Shino and his bugs reached the location of the scroll and sent a few to check for any traps that may be hidden. He took notice of the genjutsu that surrounded the scroll that was at least of higher chuunin strength slowly diminishing to nothing and glanced over at the kitsune fighting very effectively as a pair and singly whenever Kurenai fund time to throw one of them only to find the other attacking her. He watched in awe at their teamwork when Hinata attempted a leg sweep while Naruto delivered a powerful roundhouse kick when they were in the air causing Kurenai to fly back several feet to where Hinata was waiting. Shino's bugs reported no signs of traps and led him through the easiest path to the scroll before he called them back into his body.

Kurenai however found that Hinata had her trapped between a tree that Naruto was sitting in, and a small hole in the bamboo thicket with Hinata at the entrance. Naruto looked out to see Shino locking eyes with him and he understood. _"Hinata-chan! Shino got the scroll! Let's disappear!"_

_"Alright!" _Hinata thinks back with a small smirk and jumped into the tree to race through the shadows back to where they started as Naruto ran on all fours through the tall grass. Shino slipped away with the scroll as quietly as he came and walked back to where the other two were waiting.

Kurenai was surprised to say the least, she as a jounin was beaten by two genin fresh out of the academy. They had done exactly what she wanted them to do and more, she hadn't counted on being beaten in a fight. She laughed to herself, they didn't even use their shuriken or kunai, simply taijutsu and dispelling of her minor genjutsu that she had all over the field, just thicker in some places. She didn't notice when the Shino's bugs had gotten on her until she felt her chakra being drained and only now did she notice that they had gone back to their master. With another small chuckle she disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared with her team.

"Congratulations, you pass. Go home and rest up tonight, we'll meet back here at nine am for training and missions. You're dismissed." Kurenai says with a smile before disappearing in a puff of smoke to report to the Sandaime Hokage about the teams' success and to see if any of the other teams have passed.

Back at the practice field Shino left for home and the kitsune hanyou pair walked back to the Hyuuga estate wrapped in the others' tails to tell their families the good news. Well Hinata actually had a family and Naruto only had his brother who shared a mother with him, but they lived with the Hyuuga's knowing their foster parents loved them like their own and reminded them at least once a week that they aren't part of the clan, yet; Naruto was already engaged to Hinata since the day he was born but they didn't know that yet..

When they passed through the gates they were greeted with the sight of Neji, Denko, and Lee having a three way spar while Tenten sat off to the side, who Hinata noticed was watching her cousin very closely with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Are you having dirty thoughts about my cousin?" Hinata whispers in her ear causing the older girl to jump and squeak in surprise.

"I am not!" Tenten yelled gaining the boys attention who spotted the younger shinobi and came over to talk.

"So…." Denko says with a smirk.

"So what?" Naruto asks.

"Did you pass?" Denko elaborates.

"Yep."

"Who."

"Yuuhi Kurenai"

"Really? She's supposed to be really good with genjutsu and really hot"

"I don't hear them complaining about who their sensei was after the test." Hiashi says from behind Denko and effectively startling his whole team.

"You have a problem with Gai-sensei? How dare you! Gai-sensei is the best! No one can defeat Gai-sensei in anything in the world!" Lee shouts at his teammates.

"If he can't be beat in anything, then why did I finish five minutes faster than him when we had that race where we had to run twenty times around the village? I didn't even take of my training weights either." Denko says with a big smile on his face.

"That's because Lee and Gai-sensei spent a whole thirty minutes hugging each other and making us puke and question their sanity the whole time." Tenten says quickly.

"AAAHHH! BAD IMAGES! BAD MEMORIES! GET THEM OUT OF MY HEAD! IT'S BURNING MY EYES!" Neji and Denko screamed in unison clutching their heads, covering their eyes, and basically running around like chickens with their heads cut off while Hiashi and Hizashi laughed at Naruto and Hinata gagging, Tenten realizing her mistake of bringing back those memories and turning as green as Lee's spandex. Lee however was trying unsuccessfully to plead in his and their sensei's defense and that is how Hanabi found them when she came home from the academy and started muttering that she doesn't know any of them as she ran to her room.

To be continued….

AN- If anyone can give me a good site to get techniques translated into Japanese it would be greatly appreciated. I'm still looking and have only had one site found. Plus if anyone has any ideas that they feel would be great if added to the story then please send them in when you review, Lightning Bob can only come up with so many ideas and not have the story filled with crap separated by more crap (I hate those stories). As always please review and read my Ranma ½ story 'New Power'.

See ya!

Lightning Bob


	4. Trials

Kitsune and Dragon

I don't own Naruto but Denko is mine.

Chapter 4:Trials

"Hyuuga Hiashi, do you know why we called you here?" an old Hyuuga asks. Hiashi was standing before the elders of the clan. He didn't exactly like them except the one that had trained him when he and his twin brother were young and that man knew him better than the others and nearly always sided with him.

"I admit that I am curious to know" Hiashi says with a serious expression.

"You have been called here this evening concerning your heir."

"What concerns would you have about my daughter?"

"It has come to our attention that the Kyuubi has tainted her soul and body since the day she was born."

"The Kyuubi is gone thanks to the Yondaime and Naruto. I was there and saw the demon disappear from the world with the Byakugan when it gave its power to Naruto when he was barely an hour old."

"So you are saying that the boy is the Kyuubi?"

"No I'm not. He is Uzumaki Naruto, son and heir of Uzumaki Arashi and Michiko. Inazuke of Hyuuga Hinata and the hero of Konoha for the defeat of the Kyuubi."

"You engaged that youkai to your own daughter?"

"Naruto is not a youkai. If anything he is a hanyou and so is my daughter because of their bond. If you remember correctly, it was Naruto who nearly died trying to save Hinata from the Cloud nin. As of yet I haven't heard any of you have complain about Neji and Denko at all."

"Did you know that when they were eight years old they performed a Blood Bond?"

"Blood Bond? I see, well if that is all then goodbye." Hiashi says before leaving. What the Elders didn't notice was that Hiashi had dropped a Hanabi Death Bomb where he was standing. Ten seconds later the bomb went off causing most of the Elders to faint from the smell as Hiashi's old sensei slipped away with a handkerchief over his smile at his old students' actions. Hiashi walked outside to the courtyard where he found the young genin asking questions at a rapid fire pace while Tenten was blushing.

"I don't hear them complaining who their sensei was after the test." Hiashi says standing behind Denko and Neji and scaring all of the genin before joining his brother by the wall as Lee was yelling how great their sensei is while Denko argued back. At least until Tenten made a small comment that sent Neji and Denko screaming about burning eyes and bad memories as they ran blindly causing the older men to laugh at the boys, Naruto and Hinata gagging, Tenten turning green at the memories she dredged up, and Lee's useless protests.

After a month of D rank missions that had team ten pulling weeds, finding lost pets, getting groceries, finding Tora the Daimyo's wives cat, gardening, finding Tora, delivering mail, finding Tora again, walking dogs, just to name a few. Today team ten are currently returning from another mission that involved Tora where Naruto got more scratched up than normal by the crazy neko, but every time they brought the neko back to the lady they couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor thing as it was nearly crushed into the woman by her 'hug'….again.

"Damn it!" Naruto yells as the three genin and their jounin sensei walked back to the Hokage tower to report the success of the mission.

"Naruto! Don't curse." Hinata says sharply effectively shutting him up and making Shino silently laugh at the shorter boy.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me."

"Well it is funny that you keep saying that you're going to be Hokage and got beaten by a neko." Kurenai giggled.

"Yea well I just want to at least have a C rank mission next. I'm tired of all of these crappy D ranks."

"We all are." Shino says.

"Then we'll just ask for a C rank mission when we get there, it's only nine o'clock in the morning." Kurenai says with a smile.

"Yatta!" Naruto and Hinata yell together.

"Good job on completing your mission so quickly, if you like I can give you another mission now." Sarutobi says putting the mission report off to side and grabbing the scroll containing other D rank missions that have yet to be completed.

"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but my team requests a C rank mission. They have already shown almost perfect teamwork since they became a team." Kurenai says. "I believe they are ready for that type of mission."

"Well alright, I'll send you on a higher rank mission." The Sandaime says to the joy of the genin. "Kakashi has sent a message back saying that his team has encountered some ninja who seem to be working for someone during their escort mission to Wave Country. I want you to meet them and assist them with the rest of their assigned mission. Kurenai, here are the details of the mission. You're dismissed."

"Arigoto Hokage-sama." Kurenai says taking the scroll and bowing to the old man known as The Professor.

"Okay everyone go home and get your gear, we leave in an hour. Meet at the East Gate." Kurenai tells her students before she poofs away.

"Alright we finally have a good mission! See ya in an hour Shino." Naruto says as he wraps Hinata in his tails as she wraps her tails around him as they start for home.

An hour later Naruto and Hinata are standing by the gate waiting for the rest of the team still wrapped in each others' tails. Shino came a few minutes later followed by their sensei.

"Can we go now?" Naruto wined.

"Yes we're leaving now and we will be following the same path as team seven. The Hokage sent a message to them so they know we're coming. Apparently one of them got poisoned and they are resting about a days run from here." Kurenai explains as the take to the trees by the roadside and moving much faster than the team before them had.

"Did they say who was poisoned?" Hinata asks worried for her fellow Konoha shinobi.

"Not exactly, but he says he has the others training while he guards the man they are escorting and the victim." Kurenai says.

"Well them let's go faster!" Naruto says as he moved even faster through the trees and the others matched his speed.

With team seven Kakashi is currently looking in many directions at once, with one eye. He is watching Kiba who is laying on the ground because he was poisoned by the Demon Brothers when he jumped in front of Tazuna to defend the bridge builder, Akamaru is watching his friend closely and wining every now and then, Tazuna is trying to help take care of the boy who had saved his life, and Sasuke and Sakura are currently working on a tree climbing exercise using chakra, and reading Icha Icha Paradise at the same time. He is waiting for the team that the Hokage had sent to help with the poisoned boy.

Suddenly they heard a creak of a branch followed by others suggesting that they weren't alone in the forest. Soon their beliefs were confirmed as team ten dropped out of the trees and Kurenai and Hinata made a beeline to where Kiba is lying with their medical supplies already out. Sasuke and Sakura came over to join Naruto and Shino as they watched the women work on the injured boy. Hinata moved Akamaru by picking him up with her tails and handing the puppy off to Naruto who let him watch.

Several hours later Hinata and Kurenai are resting after their ordeal with Kiba. Kurenai is leaning against a tree reading a book, Naruto and Hinata are curled up as a ball of furry tails, Shino spent the night leaning against a tree letting his bugs out to explore the nearby area while he slept lightly, Kakashi is reading his porn and giggling softly, Kiba is still sleeping due to the effects of the poison while Akamaru slept on his chest, and Sasuke and Sakura had guard duty.

Back in Konoha the Sandaime is currently having a meeting with probably the Hidden Villages most annoying man, Maito Gai. "Gai, there have been some recent reports of nuke-nin and ronin swordsmen gathering in mass in Wave Country and I want you to take your team there and locate Kakashi's and Kurenai's teams and help them with their current mission. With the number of nuke-nin that have been confirmed so far and the teams lack of experience they may overwhelm the teams that are already there. Leave as soon as possible, this has a possibility of moving from a C rank mission to B or even A rank." The old man says wearing earplugs that he kept in his desk for whenever Gai was in the room.

"HAI HOKAGE-SAMA! WE SHALL SHOW THE WAVE COUNTRY THE POWER OF YOUTH!" Gai shouts before running from the tower to gather his team for their newest mission and trying to find a way to get Denko to wear the green bodysuit like him and Lee since he knew the boy preferred to wear green shorts and t-shirts whenever possible since he was five.

Not surprised to find his students at Ichiraku Ramen, he quickly joined them as the Uzumaki boy slurped up his twelfth bowl while Neji was on his third and Tenten was eating her third as well. Amazingly Lee had finished his first and only bowl when their sensei showed up yelling to them to get their gear ready because they have a mission and Lee joined him in yelling about the power of youth as the owner of the ramen stand activated a barrier that blocked all noise and any view outside of the shop as soon as the youth speech started, sparing three of favorite his favorite customers from giving the ramen back to him.

Half an hour later the five of them are outside of the village gates heading for Wave Country. "Gai-sensei, how long will it take to get to Wave Country?" Denko asks.

"It will take us at least a week to get there no matter how fast we run! But it is good endurance training for all of you!" Gai replies a bit too enthusiastically.

"How about we get there a little faster? You did say that we should get there as fast as we can." Denko smirks and only Neji, Tenten, Naruto, and Hinata know what he is implying.

"What do you mean Denko? If Gai-sensei says that we can't get there in less than a week then we can't get there in less than a week." Lee says for both spandex wearing shinobi.

"We can fly. Stand back or you'll get zapped." Denko smirks before bright blue chakra became visible and blue electric sparks surrounded him as he transformed into a green dragon with blonde hair running from his head to the tip of his tail, only two arms on his now serpentine body that was easily forty feet long and wings that are clearly designed for speed unfurled from his back spanning about fifty feet across. At the same time Neji sprouted sky blue wings that are designed for speed like Denko's, his canines grew longer and his nails grew into claws as blue chakra swirled around him for a few moments.

"Stop staring and get on so we can get going already." Denko-ryu says rolling his eyes at the startled spandex wearing, bowl cut, fuzzy browed shinobi. A minute later, the power of youth preaching duo and Tenten are safely riding on Denko-ryu at sixty miles per hour with Neji right behind them wishing that he was carrying Tenten, just the thought of that brought a blush to his face.

By the end of the day Naruto and Hinata were a little tired since they were training all day experimenting with Hinata's Jyuuken strikes combined with kitsune bi. So far they have found it to be very effective, especially Naruto since he was the test subject. The Jyuuken was designed to cause internal damage and disrupt the chakra system, but when combined with kitsune bi the strikes caused burns where they hit. Not only that, Hinata also likes to blend medical jutsu into her attacks so she could cut tendons, muscles, and arteries as well making her very dangerous to come close to in a fight. Naruto came up with new ways to use his kitsune bi with Hinata's help. Shino is wandering the island talking to and collecting new bugs to add to his swarm.

Kiba was back on his feet the next day and was able to make it to Tazuna's house where he got the next day off to recover. Kakashi took Sasuke and Sakura out to complete the tree climbing exercise, Sasuke had yet to reach the top of a tree after three days, Sakura reached the top on her third attempt and was doing the tree climbing to build her chakra reserves. Kurenai went to the bridge with Tazuna as a bodyguard as he and the other workers prepared to finish the bridge by the next week.

Gai's team took an extra two days because Gai didn't know where he going and they ran into some storm clouds. When they finally found Wave Country Denko recognized the blue flashes through the trees as kitsune bi and smirked to himself as he dived steeply at Naruto and Hinata who were training again effectively scaring the two shinobi on his back. Neji noticed this and pointed it out to Tenten who he had strapped in front of him so her back was against his chest. The only reason that Neji found their position was trying to control what tends to think for itself, their position had Tenten's rear against his waist and each beat of his wings made his body move before the straps pulled her along too. Tenten was enjoying her alone time with the boy she liked, even if she was being carried like luggage and there was something poking her that was annoying until she figured what it was causing her to blush.

Naruto looked up to the sky after they called for a break and was a little surprised to see a dragon diving at him with two people clinging for their lives to the hair on its back followed by someone with wings diving after it carrying someone else. Hinata looked up where Naruto was looking when she heard the dragon roar that hurt the sensitive ears of the kitsune pair on the ground. Denko-ryu lands in a nearby clearing much to the joy of the riders who promptly jump off and kiss the ground muttering how they will never leave it again. Neji and Tenten landed a few seconds after Denko returned to his human form as did Neji.

"It's about time you two got together." Naruto says noting that Neji's arms are around Tenten's waist and leaning against each other. The second he said that the pair blushed bright red and tried to jump away from the other only to find that they're still tied together and fall to the ground.

"Ano, not that we mind but why are you here?" Hinata asks after giggling a bit.

"We'll explain when we can talk to the sensei's. So where are they?" Denko asks.

"Oh they're around somewhere Follow us and we'll show you where we're staying while we're here." Naruto says starting to walk away only to see Gai and Lee still worshiping the ground. "Ano, what's with them?"

"I don't know why they don't like flying, its fun." Tenten answers.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? EVEN GAI-SENSEI GETS AIR SICK!" Lee shouts in defense of his role model.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You got air sick? That's pathetic!" Naruto laughs. Hinata didn't thinks it was polite to laugh at another persons misfortune but now she couldn't help but laugh openly at the two who thought they who had the 'power of youth' could defeat any thing. The others quickly joined in and made the airsick duo's faces turn as red as their spandex is green in embarrassment.

"Co-come on. Let's get to Tazuna's house." Hinata gets out between giggles as they leave for the bridge builders house.

Later that night the teams shared their mission duties with each other and with Tazuna since it concerns him and the bridge eventually coming up with a plan. Kurenai's team would go and investigate the potential enemies while Gai's and Kakashi's teams would help with the bridge building and protect the other builders. With that done they went to the rooms they are sharing except Naruto and Hinata curled up into a fur ball together in the kitchen, and Denko slept n the roof because he said it was too noisy inside with Gai, Lee, and Kakashi snoring loudly and because it's more comfortable outside.

Too be continued….

Thank you to all of those who have reviewed so far and I hope to see more. Please tell me what you think of the story or if you have any problems with it. Just in case anybody has any questions on pairings, so far there is only Naruto and Hinata, Neji and Tenten, and Gai and well…. himself, just like Lee. If ya want to see any others you'll have to wait for later chapters.

Ja ne!

Lightning Bob


	5. The Elements Flare

Kitsune and Dragon

I don't own Naruto, but Denko is mine.

Chapter 5: The Elements Flare

The next day is when the Konoha shinobi and Tazuna arrived at the bridge they found the workers sprawled across the bridge, either dead or for the majority, just unconscious. An unusually thick mist crept over the bridge that contained a feeling of impending doom. The air became thick with killing intent, so much that the genin struggled to move and even had trouble breathing. They found themselves shaking when a dark voice seemingly came from all sides.

"Ah, Kakashi the Copy-nin who possesses the Sharingan. I must admit that it will be my pleasure to be your executioner. I see you have friends with you, even playing babysitter for all of those brats, ne?"

"You must be Momochi Zabuza, nuke-nin from the Kirigakure, once a member of the Mists Seven Swords." Kakashi says calmly.

"It has been such a long time since we met last, although you didn't have that eye then, now did you?" Zabuza says as if greeting an old friend even as his killing intent easily doubled in its intensity as he slowly walked into view shortly followed by a few other nuke-nins from various villages, one from each Kurenai noticed.

"Sakura, Tenten, protect Tazuna." Kakashi orders as he readied for his fight with the Demon of the Mist.

"Lee, Neji, Denko, take care of the other guys." Gai orders as he walks towards the slight killing intent that could be felt from the land.

"Help them with the nuke-nins. I think Gai or Kakashi might need help." Kurenai says to her team and positions herself in the triangle between the nuke-nin, the killing intent that Gai when to investigate, and Tazuna, ready to help anyone who may need it.

"Lee, Shino, take the Tsuchi nin, Denko, Kumo, Naruto, Hinata, Konoha, Sasuke, Kiri, I'll take the Suna." Neji says getting nods of agreement from the others.

"This ought to be fun killing these Konoha ninjas." the Tsuchi nuke-nin laughs.

"Even better yet, they're genin and think they can beat us!" the Kumo nuke-nin says.

"You'd better watch yourselves, that dark haired kid's an Uchiha, and that blond is the son of Ryu no Denko, those two are Hyuuga's, and this other blond is the Kyuubi." the Konoha nuke-nin warns.

"You know them?" the Suna nuke-nin asks.

"Ha! Know them? I taught them all at the academy at Konoha!"

"So who is this weird gaki with the shades?" the Tsuchi nuke-nin asks.

"He's an Aburame, watch out for those damn bugs, they'll drain your chakra. That stupid looking gaki should be no problem, he can't even do a ninjutsu or genjutsu to save his life." The Konoha nuke-nin says making the others smirk.

"Don't underestimate us or you'll be sorry." Naruto threatens the nuke-nin as all of the genin but Shino smirk at their opponents.

"That's what you think!" the nuke-nin shout as one and the immediate area turned into a death trap for any who dared to even come close. The Tsuchi nuke-nin was apparently very well built as Lee and Shino found out when he threw his long coat revealing bare skin and punching both boys in the gut with surprising speed for a man his size. They quickly rose to their feat to the man's surprise and Lee attacked him with powerful punches and kicks and amazing speed. Shino didn't seem to do anything as he watched the fight and sent a bug clone to the other side of the bridge.

Denko and the Kumo nuke-nin shown impressive speed as they darted around the other fights and across the bridge with kunai flashing sparks as they collided. Then the Kumo nuke-nin started using thunder jutsu and the whole fight changed. "Raimei hebi no jutsu!" (Thunder Snake Jutsu) A large snake made of lightning flew from the nins hands through the air and struck Denko at the base of his neck causing the boy to step back a few steps as the snake filled his body with lightning from the bite. After sustaining the jutsu for a few seconds before letting it die out, apparently from the way he held himself one could tell that he thought the fight was over until he received the surprise of his life. Denko stood where he was left from the jutsu but at first his head was bent and his shoulders were shaking, then he raised his head to reveal that he was actually laughing loudly.

"Ya think that thunder jutsu will actually work on me? Electricity is like food for me, thanks for the light snack. Now let me show you a real thunder jutsu! Raimei dai tsutsu no jutsu!" Denko yells as a focused blast of sound akin to thunder shot from his cupped hands in front of his chest. The blast stuck the nin head-on and sent him flying backwards into the wall of the bridge where the concrete was destroyed and only to steel rods that reinforced it remained and those are what the Kumo nuke-nin slammed into and snapping his spine, effectively paralyzing the man from the waist down.

"Had enough yet?" Denko smirks laying his right hand on the hilt of his kodachi that is strapped to his left hip. "You can't fight anymore with your spine snapped like that."

"You are right and I recognize you as a worthy opponent, but first answer my question and I will give you a gift that I'm sure you will enjoy." The nin says between his gasping and laughing.

"So waddya wanna ask me?"

"When my partner there said that your father is Ryu no Denko, was he telling the truth?"

"Hai."

"Figures, I did owe him a pretty big debt before he left Kumogakure when I was your age. He saved my life and I swore on my life that I would repay him for that." The Kumo nin says chuckling every now and then before he coughed up blood.

"You knew my dad?"

"We were pretty good friends actually before he left saying that he had some business to attend to in Konohagakure and leaving me with my debt unpaid to him. After that- cough- my clan wanted me to kill them so that I would gain their power and skills because our Kekkai Genkai transfers our skills to whoever kills us. Sickening yet useful if you want to keep techniques secret. Now I want to repay my debt- cough- by giving you my jutsu. Please kill me."

"Fine I'll kill ya, demo just because you owe oto-san and you requested to be killed. Say konnichi wa to oto-san for me in the next life." Denko says quietly as he draws the kodachi.

"Arigoto Denko, I will. I am ready and my Kekkai Genkai has started to take effect." The Kumo nuke-nin says exposing his throat and Denko quickly beheads the man who died with a calm smile on his face oblivious to the fighting around him in death. A small sphere of chakra rose from the mans chest and flew into Denko's own chest and spread through his body, healing any injuries and transferring jutsu and chakra to his mind and inner coils.

"Rest in piece." Denko says humbly before turning to the other nuke-nins that were from Ame, Kusa, and Taki and rushing them. "Round two!"

Around Gai are the broken and beaten bodies of mercenaries and hired muscle, some were dead, others unconscious, others were simply in too much pain to move. In his arms is the man that had hired all of these men and apparently had no problems with having them killed, Gatoh as Gai found through some questioning, simply laughed it off saying that having them die on the job meant that he didn't have to pay them, not that he was going to pay most of them anyway.

"You are a strange, little man." Gai says before knocking the man out and slinging Gatoh over his shoulder, obviously not caring if the midget was comfortable or not.

Meanwhile the section of bridge that Kakashi and Zabuza are fighting at is covered by a thick mist that rendered the Sharingan in Kakashi's left eye useless. The Copy nin already was covered by small cuts due to the small vacuum at the tip that cuts him when he avoids the zanbatou by millimeters if that. He also has a large, yet shallow gash on his chest from when Zabuza went straight for the bridge builder and stopped that assault. Wiping some blood from the wound on a scroll, performed a few hand seals, and slammed the scroll into the ground yelling "Underground Pursuit Summoning no Jutsu!" Shortly after that eight or nine dogs of varying sizes and wearing capes burst from the ground at Zabuza's feet and latched on him with their jaws and prevented him from moving.

"If you are wondering how I found you I simply figured that if I couldn't find you by sight, I would have to sniff you out. I will ask you once, do you give up and I allow you to live or should I kill you?" Kakashi asks.

"I never simply give up, I merely change my plans. What exactly could happen if you take me to Konoha?"

"You could be handed over to the Mizukage and most likely tortured and killed, Konoha kills you before giving your body to the Mizukage, or knowing the Hokage like I do, he may have you work off your punishment as a Konoha shinobi. You could get stuck training genin, or maybe you would have to teach kenjutsu, but you would always be under the watch of the ANBU until the Hokage feels that you have earned his trust." Kakashi explains.

"Whatever, I am the Demon of the Bloody Mist, I do not fear death, demo I will let my followers decide their fates. Haku is fighting that Uchiha gaki, I will let him decide my fate."

"Not the answer I was expecting, demo it was good because I didn't want to get any more blood on me." Kakashi says and motions for the inu to release Zabuza as he ties him up and takes the zanbatou. "Now let's try to get the others to stop, shall we?"

"Hai."

"Demonic Ice Mirrors!" the girl known as Haku says and a dome of mirrors made from ice from the water on the bridge and the mist. "I do not wish to kill you but I will become a true shinobi if I must." Haku says as he merges with the nearest ice mirror.

"There is no way I'm going to be killed by the likes of you! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke blows a large fireball at the mirror Haku is in hopes of at least melting it, but it hardly even makes the ice melt at all.

"You will need something much hotter than that to melt my Demonic Ice Mirrors. Now I will show you true speed." Haku says before she could barely be seen jumping from mirror to mirror throwing senbon at Sasuke who desperately tried to strike back and follow the girl with his eyes as he quickly started to become a human pincushion.

'Kuso! I can't keep up with this girl! She makes it look like I'm standing still!' Sasuke thinks as he focuses chakra to his eyes in an attempt to track the girl as she filled him with senbon, hitting pressure points and preventing joints from working properly. What neither of them noticed was that Sasuke's eyes slowly turning red and eventually revealing to be newly awakened Sharingan. 'Now I can see her movements but I still can't keep up!"

Sasuke managed to scorch the edge of Haku's hakama before two voices stopped both Sasuke and Haku.

"Sasuke, stand down!" "Haku, stop!"

"Hai, Zabuza-sama."

"What do you mean stand down?"

"Sasuke, I'm glad that you have awakened your Sharingan in battle but we need to stop the others." Kakashi explains.

"Fine, I'll stop the baka that are still fighting." Sasuke says trying to move towards the others.

"Haku, tell the others to come to me now." Zabuza commands.

"Hai, Zabuza-sama." Haku says with a small bow before disappearing in a swirl of wind.

"I see that you are still wearing frilly underwear Mizuki-sensei no baka." Hinata smirks after she activated her Byakugan.

"He's still wearing them? I can't believe it! Come on Hinata-chan, let's prank this weirdo 'til he drops!" Naruto laughs.

"I'm ready when you are Naruto-kun."

"You kitsune gaki won't catch me with one of your tricks this time! I still owe you both lots of pain for all of the humiliation and misery that you put me through! And to top it all off, I'll be known as the one who really killed the Kyuubi that was sealed inside of you, Naruto!" Mizuki yells and charges while spinning a Fuuma shuriken in each hand like buzz saws.

"Oh come on Mizuki-baka, nobody could catch the Four Demons of Konoha! We've been pranking people since we were babies." Naruto says with a foxy grin as he effortlessly avoided the shuriken.

"We remember every major prank that we did since we were three. Demo when we dropped your pants in front of the entire village, that was priceless." Hinata laughs as Mizuki tried to strike her numerous times with the spinning shuriken.

"Oi, arigato, I needed a trim. You seem to know just how I like it Mizuki-baka." Hinata laughs as he cuts about an inch of hair on back of her head. Her only response was an increase of the volume of Mizuki's growls of frustration.

"Oi, Hinata-chan, just knock him out, Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza want everyone to stop fighting." Naruto calls to the girl from his perch on the side of the bridge.

"Alright Naruto-kun. You are in my field of divinitation, Hakkeshou: RokujuunYonchou!" Hinata says calmly freezing Mizuki's body and then striking his tenketsu and sealing them. Mizuki falls unconscious even as the shuriken that were spinning in his hands slipped free and cut them both off cleanly before embedding themselves into the ground.

"That looks like it hurt, good thing he was already out when it happened, ne?" Naruto says joining Hinata as she uses basic first aid to stop the bleeding.

"I guess so, demo I never expected that to happen."

"Eh, he'll be fine, at least 'til we get him back home to pay the price for abandoning Konoha like he did. Besides you did great against him Hinata-chan." Naruto says giving her a big hug with arms and tails, oblivious to the remaining fighting around them.

"Arigato, Naruto-kun."

Shino and Lee quickly took care of the Iwa nuke-nin by having Lee attack his front with his amazing speed and strength while Shino attacked his back with his kikai insects. Within minutes the ninja was battered and drained of his chakra, so they decided to attack the other three nins who found themselves surrounded by insects that were draining their chakra, the boy that controlled them, and two genin that moved too fast for them to hit with their steadily weakening bodies and passed out just as Haku showed himself to stop the fighting.

"Zabuza-sama and Kakashi-san called for the fighting to stop. Please help take these men to them so they may be bound." Haku says.

"Yes, kind miss. I will take them all back myself!" Lee says loudly with a solute and hefts three of the men onto his back and shoulders, leaving Shino and Denko who just stared at him before they each grabbed one of the Iwa nins wrists and dragged him back where all of the sensei are standing. When the others saw Lee carrying the three men, his role model started praising him and his teammates quickly acted as if they don't know them out of embarrassment.

Neji's fight ended very quickly, the nin had charged him leaving himself wide open, and needless to say that Neji took advantage of that and closed the Suna-nins tenketsu and striking the man in the temple to knock him out before binding him and dragging him to where he found Kakashi binding Zabuza.

"Oi! Who started the party without us?" Naruto asks as he drags Mizuki by the ankles, one reason being that the man didn't have wrists to grab anymore and simply because he didn't like the guy and wanted him beaten up a little more.

"Is that Mizuki?" Kurenai asks when she saw the man.

"Hai, that's him, but he left part of himself back there." Naruto says as he drops the man next to the others waiting to be bound.

"It's a good thing that we stopped the fighting before too many lives were lost. I accidentally hit a few too hard." Gai says actually being serious.

"The Kumo nin is dead, h- he asked me to kill him and I did what he said. H-he said he knew my oto-san…." Denko says quietly, obviously torn inside.

"It will be alright Denko, come with me. Neji you too." Gai says taking the boys into the forest near the bridge to help him get over his first human kill.

'_Niisan killed that guy?_' Naruto thinks.

'_Everything will be alright Naruto-kun, you'll see. Just try to think positive_.' Hinata thinks back to him, reminding him of their bond.

_'Hai, I guess so. Hell we could have let Mizuki-baka die from blood loss if we wanted to or if we couldn't stop the bleeding in time.'_

Seeing how the kitsune were handling the news of their brother/ friend, Kurenai also decided to take them to talk about handling their first kill when the time came.

"Well, let's get these guys to the prison in town so we know they won't be going anywhere. I'll leave you some food and water and I hope that I can trust you to keep them in line when they wake up?" Kakashi says to everyone and directing the question to Zabuza.

"Hai. Besides we have some questions that I think Gatoh can be 'persuaded' to answer." Zabuza says with a nod of agreement from Haku who had removed her hunter nin mask now that she didn't need it anymore.

"Ah, I was wondering what you looked like under that mask." Kakashi says.

"I only wear it during missions. Why don't you take off your mask?" Haku asks immediately grabbing everybody's attention. When Sasuke saw Haku without her mask on for the first time, his heart fluttered when he noticed her flawless face with brown eyes and quickly looked the other way to hide the slight tinge of pink on his cheeks when Haku felt someone staring at her.

After explaining the deal that Kakashi and Zabuza made to the nuke-nin, it was only Mizuki who opposed the idea of trying to become a Konoha shinobi, even if that was his home village. So Gai and Kakashi took him and the Kumo nins body to a cliff and disposed of them, leaving a marker only for the Kumo nin. When the group got back to Tazuna's house they found that two of Gatoh's thugs tried to kidnap Tsunami and it was Kiba and Akamaru who were left to rest who took care of them, so Kurenai took their weapons and threw them in the same room in jail as Gatoh who was with Zabuza, Haku, and the other nuke-nins. She merely told them to have fun but not to kill.

Naruto and Hinata were quick to form their fur ball after dinner and Denko left as soon he was done to lie on the roof. Tenten stayed with Neji after he explained what happened to Denko and tell her what Gai-sensei had said to them. Gai and Kakashi returned from the body disposal after everyone had finished their own dinner and found plates waiting for them. Kurenai took a worried glance at the fur ball in the corner before discussing the results of the mission with the other jounin.

The extra week that they stayed to help complete the bridge seemed to help greatly for the genin as they worked to get over the deaths on the bridge. Apparently during the time that they were there Naruto took some time and spoke with Inari, Tsunami's son and Tazuna's grandson, and convinced him that not all hero's seem strong on the outside, but it was the strength of their will to do what is right even against overwhelming odds, just as Kaiza had done for the village several times. His words brought out a side of the boy that no one had seen since Kaiza was alive. Inari took it upon himself to tell the rest of the villagers what Naruto had said to him. By the time the bridge was finished a week after the battle, the villagers had ran out anyone who supported Gatoh and destroyed any reminders of his influence on the country. As the Konoha shinobi flew away on Denko-ryu and Tenten was enjoying her somewhat private time with Neji, Tazuna and Inari decided to name the bridge after the one who gave confidence back to the country, The Great Naruto Bridge.

To be continued….

Review responses:

T.O.B. – Thanks for liking the couples, just wait 'til you see what they do later.

Dragon Man 180 – Glad you like how Naruto and Hinata prefer their free time cuddling, they have a strong bond and I don't think the concepts of the birds and the bees so that may come up sometime.

Ash K – thanks for the reviews. You and Dragon Man 180 give not only the best reviews but also the most frequent. Thanks.

Kyuubi-sama – Glad ya like the story, and here's the update you asked to when you review for chapter three!

Turok 1 – Thanks!

Cyber-Porygon – Thanks for the site and for the encouragement to continue the story.

hope master – I'm elaborating a bit more than I have in the past, hell I wrote more in this chapter than I have for about five homework assignments together. Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the reviews everyone and I hope to get many more. The next chapter will be the start of the Chuunin exams, that's where the action really starts. I hope ya guys enjoy the story and review, maybe some of ya can give me some ideas. Oh yea, if you're disappointed about me only naming one of the nuke-nin other than Zabuza and Haku I apologize but I'm not good with names. If you come up with any and send them to me I'll gladly revise the chapter to put the names in and maybe touch up the fight scenes a bit while I'm at it if you have any complaints. Arigato!

Ja ne!

Lightning Bob


	6. A New Team

Kitsune and Dragon

I don't own Naruto, but I do own Denko.

Chapter 6: A New Team

"State your name and purpose." A chuunin guard says as the group approached the gates of Konoha.

"C'mon Genma-san, you should know who we are. We are the team that burns brightly with the FIRE OF YOUTH!" Gai yells.

"And we have just gotten back from our mission, we have to see the Sandaime about something other than the mission report." Kurenai says as Kakashi turns a page of his little orange book with a small giggle.

"Open the gate!" Genma calls to the other guard.

"Let's give our report to the Hokage, get our pay, and go home." Kiba says with a yawn as Akamaru barks in agreement.

"Did you forget about me so easily gaki?" Zabuza asks right behind Kiba.

"Ano…ano, of course not! He he he." Kiba laughs nervously as his eyes strayed to the zanbatou.

A few minutes later the group of fifteen walked into the Hokage's office. Kakashi is still reading his little orange book and to the group's surprise, so was the Hokage.

"Oi, oibore! Put that crappy book away! We're back from our mission!" Naruto yells. Naruto may have grown up learning Hyuuga customs, but he was an Uzumaki, he just can't help himself at times.

"So how did the mission go?" Sarutobi asks as he slips the book into a drawer.

"The mission was successful, we have obtained some prisoners who are being led to their cells at the moment and Momochi Zabuza and Haku would like to speak with you privately." Kurenai answers and Kakashi is still reading Icha Icha Paradise.

"Alright, from what you have sent to me by bird, I believe that you should all be paid for a Class A mission and it will be recorded as such. Here is your payment." Sarutobi says and hands each of the Konoha shinobi an envelope with their pay inside. "Kakashi-san, Gai-san, Kurenai-san, please wait outside of the door while I speak with Zabuza and Haku. The rest of you may leave."

Each of the genin went straight to their respective homes with little more than a simple goodbye to each other as they part down different streets. Naruto and Hinata had their tails wrapped around as they leaned on each other, looking like they were sleep walking in a three legged race while Denko and Neji somewhat guided the younger genin home.

"Tadaima!" The four young teens say as they stumble through the entrance of the building that housed the main house members.

"Let's get you washed up before you fall asleep standing up." Hizashi says when he saw their tired state.

After they took their baths, which the elders disapproved of the heiress's habit of bathing with Naruto, the four genin stumbled into their rooms. Again the elders didn't approve of Naruto sleeping with Naruto. Hizashi and Neji had recently moved into the main house after Hiashi convinced the elders to allow his brother and nephew to live there because if the main house would be unable to lead the clan, they would be the closest people they would have to the main house.

"I see that you two wish to become Konoha shinobi." Sarutobi says.

"Yes, and I wish to adopt Haku as my daughter." Zabuza says putting a hand on a surprised Haku's shoulder.

"I see, well since you have defected from Kirigakure you should be punished in some way, Zabuza-san. I believe that some punishments you will find a little different than from where you come from, but here I try to get at least some use out of those who break laws. In your case, you will be teaching kenjutsu to the ANBU and anyone else who wishes to learn, you will help train the genin, and you will provide whatever information you may have about Kirigakure and Mizu-kuni. Is that acceptable?" the Sandaime says.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Zabuza says without a second thought.

"Haku, I'll try to find a genin team you, the chuunin exam is being held here shortly and Konohagakure would like to show its strength."

"Arigato Hokage-sama." Haku says, bowing.

"No needs to thank me yet, after the jounin give me their mission report I'll introduce you to the ANBU and the genin teams and arrange for an apartment for the two of you. Here are your Konoha hate ate. Please wait outside." The Sandaime says giving the new Konoha nin their head protectors who bowed and walked out and stood where Gai, Kakashi, and Kurenai were as said jounin walked into the office to give their report.

An hour later you could find the Hokage, Zabuza, Haku, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Gai with the ANBU having a meeting about Zabuza and his terms of agreement for joining Konoha. Normally Morino Ibiki and Mitarashi Anko would have been at the meeting as well, but they were having a little bit of 'fun' with Mizuki and the other prisoners. Their methods are quite reliable, they got whatever they wanted from those they questioned. For some of the laws that weren't severe enough to call for death, the punishment was normally a torture session with one of them. That in itself was usually enough to prevent people from committing crimes that warranted that punishment.

After the meeting with the ANBU, the Hokage led the Momochi family to their new apartment. It was situated in the same building as a few of the other jounin and chuunin. That group included Kakashi, Gai, and Ibiki. Anko who recently moved in with Iruka seemed to be rubbing off on him a little, he seemed a little happier, and Anko learned to calm down a little and work on her people skills for outside of work. The couple as people started say live right next to the apartment that Zabuza and Haku now share and decided to greet their new neighbors.

"So who are the new neighbors?" Anko asks sizing up Zabuza and Haku.

"These are Konoha's newest shinobi, Momochi Zabuza and his daughter Haku. Haku will be joining a genin team for the chuunin exams, I believe I know who to team her up with since the exams are taken in teams of three. Anko, Haku, come to my office at nine tomorrow morning." Sarutobi explains.

"Ah, that's nice. Welcome to Konoha." Anko says with a slightly creepy smile.

"I see having Iruka as a koibito has calmed you down a bit when you're not in the interrogation room, Anko."

"So what of it?"

"It's nice to see someone who trusts you so much since your genin days."

"Hai, it is really nice. Well Haku, if you want to talk to a girl, just knock." Anko says before going through her door.

"What did you mean that she calmed down, Hokage-sama?" Haku asks.

"That you will have to ask her yourself, it's a topic that she would rather forget all about. Well, I'll leave you here and here's some money for whatever you may need. Sayonara." Sarutobi says before poofing away.

"Let's see our new home, Haku." Zabuza says turning the key to open the door revealing a simple apartment with two small bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen with a table. To the right is a small couch facing a television on the opposite side of the room.

"Simple, but better than what we're used to, ne?" Zabuza says looking at his adopted daughter.

"Hai, it's even better than the house I lived in with my parents."

Across the street was someone who shows a great interest in this new family, given the fact that this person was watching Zabuza and Haku very carefully with his Sharingan activated so he could see in better detail. The last Uchiha was staring at Haku mostly, only looking at the man when they interacted.

"Taken an interest in Haku have you?" someone says from behind causing him to spin around to find the Sandaime standing there.

"Wha- what do you mean? I just don't trust Zabuza." Sasuke says quickly with a slight blush on his face.

"I believe it's about time you actually started to show interest in someone. Your biggest rival from the academy is already far ahead of you in that department." The old man laughs.

"Why do you say that?"

"So you know that I'm talking about Naruto then. Hinata and he are engaged."

The dope is engaged?"

"Hai and they don't even know yet. Though I must say that you should make an attempt to get Haku soon before any other boys beat you to her if you like her so much."

"….." blush.

"Sayonara, I have work to get done. Maybe I should let Naruto spend a few days with me at the office to see if he really wants to be Hokage." The old man jokes as he leaps away from the silent, red faced genin. 'My matchmaking work is done here for now.'

"Ah good you are all here." The Hokage says to the four people in his office. Mitarashi Anko, Uzumaki Denko, Momochi Haku, and, Honoo Akane, an academy student that requested not to be put on a team so she could develop her skills.

"So what are we here for Hokage-sama?" Anko asks,

"You are going to take some time off from interrogation duties to be their jounin instructor. Denko, I'm taking you off of your team because the chuunin exams are taken in teams of three and this team needed a third member. Akane, your clan has told me that they think you are ready to join a team, I think you will like having another girl on your team and a familiar face as well." the Hokage explains and smiles at Akane's face turned nearly as red as the streaks in her blue-black hair.

"Why do I have to train these brats? Ain't there anyone else who can do this?" Anko yells.

"Actually there is, but I feel that you would be best suited for the job. Besides, you only have to train them until the chuunin exams, if none of them pass you are stuck with them until at least on of them passes in the next chuunin exam."

"Great, just great. I'm stuck playing babysitter. At least there are two girls." Anko grumbles.

"You think I can't handle myself against you, let alone a bunch of genin?" Denko asks Anko in a challenging tone.

"What makes you think you can beat a special jounin, gaki?" Anko asks putting her face right up to his.

"Keh, I can probably handle my own against all three of you." Denko challenges.

"Really? Tell me, do you think you can beat us just because we're girls?" Anko asks.

"No, I believe I can beat you because I'm a better shinobi." Denko smirks.

"No one questions my skills and gets away with it! We'll take your challenge, right girls?"

"Hai!" Haku and Akane chorus.

"I could use a break to stretch my legs a bit so I'll watch the fight." The Hokage says as he rises from his chair.

At training field twenty a crowd gathered consisting of all of the academy students and their sensei, the genin teams and their sensei, Hyuuga Hiashi, Hanabi, and Hizashi, Momochi Zabuza, Morino Ibiki, and Akane's parents as well as a few ANBU and jounin, and the Hokage who was going to be the judge.

"This ought to be fun." Denko smirks.

"SHOW THEM THE POWER OF YOUTH, DENKO!" Gai and Rock Lee yell causing everyone to edge away from them sweat dropping.

'I can't believe that they are my friends.' Denko, Neji, and Tenten think with a sigh.

"Let's get this fight over with I'm getting bored here!" Anko complains loudly.

"Alright settle down. This fight will be like the third part of the chuunin exam except this will be a three on one fight between Mitarashi Anko, Momochi Haku, and Honoo Akane versus Uzumaki Denko! Anything can be used but we would wish that you not kill each other. Hajime!" the Hokage says.

Haku started by throwing several senbon at Denko who simply dodged them putting little effort in the act. Anko followed up by throwing kunai and shuriken and rushing after them with a kunai in hand. Denko dodged the kunai and shuriken and grabbed the wrist that held the kunai and twisted her arm behind her back, forcing her to drop the kunai. He leaned back as Akane tried to hit him with a flaming fist only to be hit in the head by her knee that sent him a few meters away still holding Anko with her arm behind her back. Denko had to release her when snakes came out of her sleeve and attempted to ensnare him.

"What? Don't you like my Senei Jashuu?" Anko asks.

Before Denko could answer Haku used Sensatsu Suishou from the side followed by Mizu Bushin. Denko jumps away from the water needles only to find himself surrounded by the bushin.

"This gets better all the time." Denko smirks and drops flat to the ground as all four of the bushin throw senbon only to hit the one across from them, causing them to burst into puddles.

"Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu!" Akane yells as she blows a large fireball at the boy who jumps into the air to avoid the attack.

"Bad idea, up there you can't dodge attacks." Anko says as she throws several shuriken.

"That's what you think." Denko smirks as wings burst from his back and propel him away from the shuriken before shrinking them into his back and dropping to the ground to find his landing spot covered with smooth ice. "That's not gonna work on me!"

"Oh yea?" all three women ask as they charge the falling boy from different directions. Denko pulls his right fist back as blue electricity sparks from the fist.

'Is he using Chidori? It can't be.' Kakashi thinks as he lifts his hate ate and exposing his Sharingan. Sasuke had his Sharingan activated during the whole fight so far and was surprised at the first offensive move the boy was using during the whole fight.

"Raiko Kobushi!" Denko yells as he punches the ice releasing the lightning he gathered in his fist in a blast that not only destroyed the ice sheet and creating a two by one meter crater, but threw the kunoichi back a few meters. Stepping out of the crater Denko swiftly delivered a punch to each of them in the solar plexus, effectively forcing the air out of their lungs.

"I declare Uzumaki Denko the winner! Good show all of you!" the Hokage says followed shortly by cheering. Iruka ran up to Anko asking if she was hurt as Zabuza helped Haku to stand as Denko helped a bruised and blushing Akane to her feet putting a hand behind her back to keep her upright.

"Good job Akane. That fireball was a lot bigger than most I've seen before. I think you got Sasuke-chan jealous 'cause you can use Katon jutsu better than he can." Denko says as he leads the girl to her parents who were talking to the Hyuuga's.

"So what are ya guys talkin' about?" Denko asks as the pair reached the families.

"Oh not too much, just telling how much Akane likes you to Hiashi-san." Akane's mother says as if she was talking about the weather.

"Oka-san! You promised that I would tell him that I love him!" Akane yells with her red as a tomato.

"I did let you tell him honey and you told the whole world while you were at it." her mother says with a mischievous smirk.

"You love me?" Denko asks with a small blush. Akane answered with a nod.

"I can't believe you didn't notice how much she liked you when we were at the academy. Even Iruka-sensei knew." Neji taunts as he joins the group with Tenten at his side shortly followed by Naruto and Hinata.

"Oi Niisan! When did you come up with that last move? It was great!" Naruto says displaying his excitement with his tails which are shaking with excitement.

"Eh not too long ago, why don't you and Hinata-chan go make your own version." Denko says. Akane's parents noticed that he still hadn't taken his hand from their daughter now that she was standing on her own, but had dropped his arm around her waist. They enjoyed watching Akane create new shades of red as she noticed where his hand was as well.

"How the hell could he beat me like that? Iruka-kun, you taught him at the academy right?" Anko complains.

"He does that a lot. He told me once that he started to get his opponents angry and overconfident to win fights against some of the Hyuuga elders actually. He wasn't one of the top students of the year for nothing." Iruka explains, torn between feeling sorry for the woman he lives with and laughing at her humiliation. He decided to do both at once.

No one seemed to notice Denko and Akane slip away together as they went Ichiraku Ramen for a snack. Naruto and Hinata joined them after a few minutes and started telling Ichiraku and Ayame how the fight went. Back at the training field Sarutobi caught Sasuke staring at Haku and gave him a nudge.

"Come with me." Sasuke says to Haku.

"Why should I?" Haku asks as she replayed the fight in her mind.

"I- I want to take you to get something to eat."

"You obviously don't do this much, do you?" Haku asks as they walk away from the crowd.

"….."

"I noticed that you're pretty quiet. Why's that? You have plenty of people who want to get to know you. There's a lot of girls that would love to go out with you, why me?"

"You're not like the others. You know what it's like to lose your family. You're strong and skilled kunoichi."

"You don't have a family?"

"My brother killed my whole clan except me five years ago and to test the power of the final level of the Sharingan. To achieve that one must kill their best friend. He used its power to make me see my parents' deaths at his hands over and over again for what felt like three days, in reality it was mere seconds." Sasuke was surprised at himself; he had never told anyone what happened except the Sandaime the day after the incident.

"Where I come from the villagers hate those with Kekkai Genkai because they believe they are the cause of wars. My mother's bloodline ability is very rare; controlling water and ice. Somehow my father found out about my mothers secret and killed her, then he went after me and I killed him with its power. A few weeks later, Zabuza-san found me and took me as his apprentice because he was interested in my bloodlines ability." Haku says quietly, the only people she had told that to were Zabuza of course and the Hokage.

"Hn, it's getting dark. You should get home before you Zabuza-san starts looking for you." Sasuke says after they had simply walked around for hours, skipping the lunch that he had offered and the sun was starting to set.

"We never did get anything to eat, did we?" Haku smirks as their stomachs growled loudly.

"Maybe tomorrow?"

"Sure. Thanks for everything, except for the hunger I feel a lot better now."

"Me too."

"Oyasumi nasai!" Haku says before pecking him on the cheek and running home.

"O- oyasumi nasai." Sasuke manages watching her disappear before walking home for something to eat.

To be continued….

AN: A little bit of fluff, humor, and action all in this one chapter. Didn't focus on Naruto and Hinata this time but they'll be back stronger than ever for the next chapter when the chuunin exams start. The pairings are pretty obvious and you can look forward to women getting jealous and fighting. I can't wait to see what I come up with for that, but now that I'm thinking about it I'm getting ideas. Probably something about Haku and Sakura fighting over Sasuke during the chuunin exam and telling everyone. If anyone has any ideas please send them to me in a review and I might put your idea in somewhere.

The next chapter will be really fun, most likely longer than this one and this is the most I've ever typed for anything. Nine pages is definitely a lot for someone who normally struggles to fill a single page with double spacing for reports for school. Anyway if you're disappointed with the lack of descriptions of the original and usual characters and the fight scenes I'm sorry. I'm not a very descriptive guy most of the time but I will give better detail during the next chapter. Until then……

Ja ne!

Lightning Bob


	7. The Chuunin Exams Begin

Kitsune and Dragon

I don't own Naruto but Denko and Akane are mine.

Chapter 7: The Chuunin Exams Begin

During the few weeks to the upcoming chuunin exams, Konoha's business rose with tourists who came to watch and its shinobi were training hard, at least most of them anyway. Shikamaru spent most of his time playing shogi and even made some money off of it when some people gambled on whoever won. Hi best friend Chouji just sat nearby and watched as he ate. Their teammate Ino complained about how lazy they were but started to cheer up a lot when Shikamaru started winning the money.

Team Gai was saddened and slightly out of balance when Denko was pulled from the team but spent most of their time training to make up for their loss. Denko's team quickly became close, especially Denko and Akane, and the whole team found that if they combine fire, ice, and lightning attacks on a target the result was a powerful attack that would be difficult to block at best.

Team Kurenai trained nearly all the time at Naruto's insistence and even Shino said he wanted to train. Hinata didn't mind too much because it gave her a good reason to practice her medical jutsu and she could combine it easily with her Jyuuken/Kitsune style as Naruto found out when she used Chakra Enjitou to disable him until she combined her Chiyute no Jutsu with his already fast healing. A week before the chuunin exams were to start Naruto and Hinata each grew another tail so they spent a lot of their time getting used to the increase of power that the growth of a tail granted all kitsune.

Kakashi's team spent most of their time training as well. Sasuke had his own reasons and an ego to push him through the training, Kiba and Akamaru tried to teach Sasuke what teamwork meant as they trained, and Sakura….. did a little training and a lot of fanaticizing about being Sasuke's girlfriend, even if he spent most of his free time with Haku when she wasn't training.

Three days before the exams were to start Naruto and Hinata were taking a break from training and were walking through the village looking at any foreign shinobi they saw until Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, and Hanabi ran up to them because they wanted to play tag. The second they agreed they kids yelled "You're it!" and ran down the street until they ran into someone dressed in black and a blond girl with four ponytails who picked the children off the ground by their collars or in Konohamaru's case, scarf.

"That hurt you know." The boy in black growls.

"It didn't hurt that much Kankuro, you sissy." The girl says as she drops the two little girls on their butts after successfully scaring them.

"You're from Sunagakure, right?" Hinata asks the pair.

"Oh you're observant." The girl says pointing to her hate ate.

"Shut up you two! I didn't even hurt you yet!" Kankuro yells at the boys that he's holding and smashes their heads together only to find that he was holding two logs instead.

"Kankuro, drop them." someone says. Obviously Kankuro recognized the voice and immediately dropped the boys who ran behind Naruto. They looked at the nearby tree and saw a boy with red hair, a gourd on his back, kanji for love on his forehead, and looked very deprived of sleep was standing on the underside of a branch.

"G-Gaara, c'mon we were just having a little fun." Kankuro says nervously.

"Shut up…or I'll kill you. Let's go." Gaara says as he walks past the Suna nin.

"Oi! Wait! Who are you?" Naruto asks.

"Sabaku no Gaara, who are you?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"I hope to fight you later." Gaara says before walking away with his siblings.

"That guy is scary." Konohamaru says from behind Naruto followed by nods of agreement from the other three academy students.

'He's weird, he smells like tanuki.' Naruto thinks to Hinata.

'He looks like he hasn't slept for a long time as well.' Hinata thinks to Naruto.

'We'll just have to watch him during the chuunin exams, ne?'

'Hai.'

"Konnichi waaaaa." Konohamaru and Hanabi say trying to get the genin to pay attention to them.

"What do you want Konohamaru/Hanabi?" they say together.

"Push us on the swings! Push us on the swings! Push us on the swings!" the four children chant dancing around the kitsune hanyou.

"Alright you win." Hinata says and lets the kids lead them to the nearest park as she walked with Naruto.

At the park Naruto and Hinata pushed the kids on the swings until they got bored with that and started playing tag with the other children in the park. The kitsune hanyou simply sat by the small overgrown area of the park when they caught the scent of something familiar, but couldn't quite place it.

"So that's what is." Naruto whispers after sniffing Hinata.

"What?"

"I think there's a kitsune or two here and it's not us." Naruto whispers.

"I smell them too." Hinata whispers after a few sniffs to confirm his words.

"Let's find them."

"What?" Hinata asks but by then he was already in the bushes sniffing them out so she sighs and follows him. After a few minutes of searching they found two kitsune with two tails each.

"Gina, what happened?" the amber furred kitsune says in kitsune; growls and yips, which the hanyou pair could understand because they are half kitsune.

"Of course I'm not Kohaku! I'm stuck hanging from a tree you baka!" the silver kitsune yips loudly to the one on the ground.

"Well sorry about caring. Ii just went to find some food for us and you get yourself caught in a trap." Kohaku says turning away with a huff.

"Aren't you gonna get me down?" Gina asks a little more calmly.

"You're too high up and if I use kitsune bi we'll be found."

"You're already found." Naruto says stepping out of the bushes and surprising the two kitsune.

"Don't worry we just want to help you." Hinata says as she follows Naruto.

"Here let me get you down from there." Naruto says as he walks slowly to the airborne kitsune.

"Stay away from her!" Kohaku growls, jumping between Naruto and Gina.

"Hey we just want to help ya. I'm Naruto and this is my girlfriend Hinata-chan. Hinata-chan?" Naruto says.

"I'm over here Naruto." Hinata calls as she stands on the bottom of the branch that the rope is attached to as she holds the kitsune with her dark furred tails and untying the rope.

"It's okay Kohaku, they just want to help." Gina says as Hinata finishes and drops to the ground. Gina's words calmed the other kitsune visibly seeing that there didn't seem to be any danger.

"So what are you two doing here?" Naruto asks as the kitsune licked each other's faces.

"You can understand us?" Kohaku asks.

"Well yea, we're not exactly human." Naruto says waving his tails behind him and twitching his ears a bit as a bird flew by. The kitsune looked at him carefully, then turned their gaze to Hinata as she slipped next to him.

"You're kitsune?" Gina asks.

"Hanyou." Naruto says quickly.

"So that's it. Don't people try to hurt you because you're a kitsune?" Gina asks.

"Not usually, enemy shinobi will hurt just about anybody and some people are just too stupid to see the truth sometimes." Hinata answers.

"So humans will attack you even though you're this village's shinobi?" Kohaku asks, obviously calmed down from earlier.

"Pretty much because they think I'm the Kyuubi and trying to infect the whole village because it was sealed inside my by the Yondaime Hokage when I was born." Naruto explains.

"So that's what happened to Kyuubi. He disappeared twelve years ago." Gina says.

"Poor Kyuubi-bunta." Kohaku says lowering his head in respect.

"So what about you two? You must be pretty young if you're only two-tails'." Naruto says.

"Young? We're older than you!" Kohaku laughs.

"Oh yea, how old?" Naruto asks.

"We're fifteen." Gina says.

"Gina." Kohaku whines.

"So are you two siblings or something?" Hinata asks.

"Our parents are good friends and so are we." Gina says.

"Oh, sorry. You just looked like you were pretty close." Hinata says.

"Oi Hinata-chan" Naruto says before his stomach growled loudly shortly followed by Hinata's. "Let's go home and get something to eat."

"That would be good. Gina-chan, Kohaku-chan would you like to come with us?" Hinata asks the kitsune.

"Hai!" they chorus as they follow the hanyou pair out into the park and from there into the streets to the Hyuuga mansion.

"You two are Hyuuga's?" Gina asks from Hinata's shoulders as they pass through the gates.

"I am, not Naruto."

"That's right, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki? That name sounds familiar but I don't know why." Kohaku says from his perch on Naruto's shoulders.

"Ano… the Yondaime was my dad." Naruto mutters.

"Maybe Denko's otousan, Ryuu no Denko?"

"Ryuu no Denko! Now I remember him coming to our realm to talk to Kyuubi about the Yondaime Hokage. They were all best friends until some guy who annoys Manda a lot summoned Kyuubi and tried to control him. Kyuubi just went crazy instead of being under control of that teme." Kohaku explains.

"We should tell father and the Sandaime about that because they were friends with Ryuu no Denko and the Yondaime." Hinata says.

"Hai and they never knew why Kyuubi attacked either." Naruto says.

"What was that about telling us something about Kyuubi?" Hiashi asks from the dining room where Sarutobi, Hiashi, Hizashi, Neji, Denko, and Hanabi were about to eat lunch.

"Konnichi wa otousan. Let us wash up before we join you for lunch." Hinata says.

"Don't keep us waiting too long musume." Hiashi says.

"Hai otousan." Hinata says before she and Naruto dash off to their room with the kitsune.

A few minutes later four slightly damp kitsune sat at the low table with the others and the servants brought in the food.

"So what was it that you needed to tell us?" Sarutobi asks as they ate.

"Ano, Hinata-chan and I found Gina-chan here caught in a trap while we were in the park with Hanabi and her friends and Kohaku couldn't reach her." Kohaku huffed at that while he ate some meat from a dish with Gina. "So we helped her down and started talking with them and-"

"You talked to them Hizashi asks and Naruto and Hinata just wag their tails and twitch their ears in response. "Oh, yea. Gomen nasai."

"After we started talking and introduced ourselves we invited them over for lunch and Kohaku remembered the Ryuu no Denko being friends with Kyuubi and the Yondaime and he mentioned that there was a snake named Manda complaining about some guy that kept bothering him a lot and it was that guy who summoned Kyuubi and tried to control him with some kind of jutsu. The jutsu didn't work and just sent Kyuubi on a rampage where he eventually attacked Konoha and got sealed in me." Naruto explains.

"I see, now everything makes sense. I've met Kyuubi before and he was usually as nice as he was powerful. The man that tried to control him must have been Orochimaru, one of my own students and one of the Sannin. Whenever he summoned Manda the snake always had some kind of problem with him. I had Enma have a meeting with the boss summons and all that snake did was complain about that man and how twisted he is." Sarutobi says.

"It does make sense but why are they here anyway? Don't they usually need to be summoned?" Hiashi asks.

"The new kitsune boss sent them here to gain some experience and try to find some answers for Orochimaru's actions against the kitsune clan. The Ryu clan also wanted answers to how and why Ryu no Denko died." Hinata translates Gina's yips for those who didn't speak kitsune.

"Are they capable of returning to their realm to bring the new kitsune-bunta here so we can explain what we know?" Sarutobi asks and the kitsune nod. "Good. Do you think he could come here with Enma outside of town when I summon him?"

"They will go check for you Hokage-sama." Hinata translates since Naruto had his mouth full before the kitsune poof back to their realm.

"Hokage-sama, if the kitsune-bunta agrees do you think it might be best if Naruto and I go since Kyuubi was sealed in him and I'm the son of Ryuu no Denko?"

"If he is willing to meet with me it's possible but the chuunin exams star tomorrow and I think that all of you should rest for today and check that you are prepared for tomorrow. But if they would wish to speak with you I will send a message."

"Arigato Hokage-sama."

"Thank you for your hospitality Hyuuga-domo, we have covered more than I have expected today and will possibly be covering more later. Send a messenger to me when Kohaku and Gina return. Now I must get back to the office before the paperwork grows too much."

"Arigato Hokage-sama." Hiashi and Hizashi say together.

After lunch Naruto and Hinata decided to show Gina and Kohaku around the village and ran into Anko, Akane, and Haku while they were going to shop for clothes and they grabbed Hinata to shop with them with Gina following. Naruto and Kohaku entered the shop a few minutes later and found Denko sitting in one of the chairs that are by the fitting rooms.

"Denko nii-san, what are you doing here?" Naruto asks with Kohaku at his feet.

"Akane-chan saw me through the window and dragged me in here. Wanna give me some company?"

"Sure, Hinata-chan was dragged in here with the rest of your team so I gotta wait for her anyway."

"So Denko-kun, what do you think?" Akane asks as she steps out of one of the changing rooms. She's wearing a tight black shirt with short sleeves that have flame designs at the bottom of the shirt and sleeves, matching black pants with flames at the bottoms with a red belt, black fingerless gloves with metal with the kanji for fire engraved in them, black sandals, and a kodachi with a red leather wrapped hilt.

"Black and red, matches your hair." Denko smirks.

"Arigato, I thought the flames would match me pretty good as well." Akane smirks as she runs a hand through her shoulder length, red streaked black hair. "If you're waiting for Hinata-chan to get something you might as well get something yourself. I'm sure you can afford it."

"Sure why not." Naruto says shrugging his shoulders as he goes to find something new.

"What about you Denko-kun? Aren't you gonna get anything?" Akane asks.

"Wasn't planning on it." Denko says.

"Come on Denko-kun." Akane whines.

"Maybe." Denko answers and slouches further in his seat.

"Denko-kun, if you don't at least try to find something we'll make you pay for everything." Akane threatens and it worked, three seconds later and Denko was with his brother searching through the numerous selections of male shinobi wear, not because he was cheap but because he was saving for a few custom weapons that he asked for from Tenten's father since he's a master weapon maker. He got a discount for getting his equipment there because he was on the same team as his daughter and sometimes helped out and built up some savings that he could only use there.

Naruto eventually found what he wanted to try and changed and emerged at the same time as Hinata did. She's wearing a tight black shirt with short sleeves bearing the Hyuuga crest on the shoulders and blue flames at the edges with mesh on the inside, a dark blue vest with pockets for kunai and shuriken, dark blue pants that weren't tight but hugged her skin, blue sandals, and a violet sash around her waist. She also had fingerless black gloves with a steel plate.

Naruto is wearing a black, short sleeve shirt with the Uzumaki crest on the shoulders and blue flames at the edges and mesh on the inside, a vest like Hinata's except it's a dark orange, black pants with blue flames at the bottoms, blue sandals, and a blue flame patterned sash around his waist. He wore steel arm guards that have retractable blades on the side away from his body.

"Wow, you look good." They say together as they continue to stare at each other.

"You're right you two do look good. You should buy that." Anko says coming out of her changing room after not finding what she wanted.

"Do you think Sasuke-kun would like this?" Haku asks stepping out of her room. She's wearing an ocean blue shirt with long sleeves, a blue vest filled with narrow pockets just for holding senbon, matching pants, arm guards that can shoot senbon from it, and blue sandals.

"I think he'll love it. He may be moody a lot but with you around he's really lightened up." Anko says giving Haku a wink. Meanwhile Denko was surprised to find something that he liked and changed.

"So what do you think about this Akane-chan?" Denko asks. He's wearing a loose green short sleeve shirt, green shorts with a few large pockets that could hold some weapons, black sandals, a green belt, his kodachi, and arm guards like Naruto's but each have a blade as long as his forearm that can flip out of the arm guard sheath and lock extended from his wrist.

"Green?" Akane asks.

"I happen to like green, and don't say that it's from being with Gai-sensei, I've worn green since the academy. I wouldn't even think about wearing that spandex that he and Lee wear." Denko says and shivers at the mere thought of it with everyone else.

"With the way Gai-san is built he can get away with wearing that but it's from the neck up that worries me." Anko says more to herself than anyone but they heard anyway.

"And the worst part is that he's passing it on to Lee. His skills are great but he really needs to see a shrink or something." Denko says recalling his own experiences of the man who tried to get him to wear 'The Spandex of Hell' and shout about 'The Power of Youth'.

"Actually he did go to a shrink about that. I know because I was scheduled right after him and I actually made the doc sane again." Anko says. "Lets get this stuff paid for and get out of here, Iruka-kun is taking me out tonight for dinner. Oh yea, make sure you're at the academy room 301 tomorrow by four."

The next day Naruto and Hinata met with Shino at the Hyuuga gates dressed in their new clothes and left for Ichiraku Ramen where they met the Ino, Shika, Chou team who had also decided to get something to eat before the exams started. Denko, Akane, and Haku joined them a few minutes later with Neji, Tenten, and Lee a minute behind them. Ichiraku was happy that his best customers had all come at the same time so he knew that money wasn't going to be a problem anytime soon, especially with people coming from other countries slowly coming. Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru joined as the group was leaving. Sasuke and Haku decided to use the walk to the academy as a chance to spend as much time as they could with each other before they would be considered enemies, all the while avoiding Sakura and Ino who were trying to get in Haku's place.

At the academy they found a crowd around a door under a sign that said the room was 301 but they knew it was just a genjutsu. The two guards at the door were preventing the crowd from entering the door and telling them that they weren't ready to become chuunin.

"Out of my way, I'm trying to get to room 301." Sasuke says as he pushes his way through the crowd of genin to continue down the hall to the stairs. At least until one of the guards jumped in front and threw a kick which Sasuke retaliated with one of his own only to find that both of their kicks stopped by a boy wearing green spandex and had thick eyebrows who had their ankles held by one hand. Sasuke and the guard were pissed because the boy didn't seem to even try to catch their kicks.

"You may want to save the fighting for later." Lee says as he releases the legs that he was holding. "Uchiha Sasuke, I wish to test myself against the power of the Sharingan. That should prove to be a great battle if the rumors about you are true."

"Like you could beat me." Sasuke scoffs.

"Lets go Lee, you're the one who said we shouldn't show our strength." Tenten says as she drags him away by his ear causing the rest of the genin and the two guards to sweat drop.

"We should get to the testing room as well." Shino says and walks off followed by the kitsune hanyou and the rest of the group they came with.

In front of the testing room door they found their sensei waiting for them to wish them good luck. After that they entered the room and found it full of shinobi from various countries, all genin hoping to become chuunin. The teams from Amegakure looked like they had a stick shoved up their asses and it broke off and wanted to take their anger out on the rest of the world.

"I wouldn't stare at that team unless you have a death wish, the Rain village isn't known for having the best tempers." Says a boy with glasses, white hair with some in a ponytail, and much older than them. As if reading their minds he introduced himself as Yakushi Kabuto and he has information on just about every shinobi here.

"Tell me about Sabaku no Gaara." Naruto says.

"Alright, Sabaku no Gaara, not much known about him, 21 C rank missions and one A rank mission, and he's never even got a scratch on any mission yet."

"Show me Rock Lee." Sasuke says.

"He's from Konohagakure, no ninjutsu or genjutsu at all but his taijutsu is off the charts. He graduated dead last from the academy the year before you did, 38 D rank missions, seven C rank, and one B rank. His teammates are Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, and Uzumaki Denko who was recently placed on another team. Pretty good for the dead last of his class."

"What about other teams? Know anything about them?" Sasuke asks.

"Most of the teams come from well established villages but the team from Otogakure is a mystery, they're new and this is the first team sent to the chuunin exams." Kabuto says. Obviously the Oto team didn't like what he said and rushed over to silence him. The one that had his head wrapped in bandages exposing only his left eye, ran up and tried to uppercut Kabuto with his right fist but the older boy stepped back and easily dodged the attack. However his glasses broke and he dropped to his knees and lost his lunch.

"Don't underestimate us. We will beat you all." The Oto nin says before a large poof of smoke at the front of the room caught everyone's attention.

"There will be no fighting unless an examiner says so! If anyone tries it again you will be thrown out of this exam! I am Morino Ibiki, your examiner for the first part of these chuunin exams. Everyone hand in your forms and sit in your assigned seats." Ibiki yells to the genin. Naruto and Hinata were lucky to sit next to each other, as was Haku and Sasuke, and Denko and Akane, and Neji and Tenten. "There are ten questions on this exam but the tenth question will be given with ten minutes left. This is a point elimination test, if you are caught cheating you lose two points, if you are caught five times you and your team fail and must leave immediately. Hajime!"

The genin turn their tests over and find that they couldn't possibly get the correct answer without help except for a few select geniuses in the room that included Shikamaru and Sakura. Soon most of the genin figured that the point of the test was to cheat, Gaara used his Daisan no Hade, Kiba had Akamaru on his head looking at other tests from his elevated perch, Shino used his bugs, Kohaku and Gina popped out of Naruto and Hinata's tails and ran around the room under a kitsune gensou, looked at tests, and ran back to tell what they had found. Neji used his Byakugan while Tenten used mirrors attached to chakra strings positioned so that Denko and Lee could copy Neji's test while Akane copied off of Denko's. Haku did the same with her ice mirrors and allowed Sasuke to copy off of her.

During the fifty minutes that the genin were taking the exam many teams were eliminated. With ten minutes left Ibiki gave the remaining genin a choice between quitting and being able to take the chuunin exam at another time or taking the tenth question and if they get it wrong they stay genin forever. Many of the genin and their teams left leaving only twenty seven teams remaining including the Suna team, team Gai, the rookie nine, Denko's team, and a few other teams.

"Nobody else going to leave? Then…congratulations, you passed the first exam." Ibiki smiles.

"What about the tenth question?" one of the genin asks.

"That was the tenth question, to see if you were willing to chance the unknown as all shinobi must be willing to do to complete their mission successfully. In the world of shinobi one must be willing to make sacrifices for their village, even their life if it is necessary. That was the purpose of this test. The other purpose of the test was to see how well you could gather information. Information is what keeps you and your villages alive. There are two chuunin planted with you to provide answers." Ibiki explains, even taking off his hate ate that he used to cover his heavily scarred head to emphasize his point as the chuunin raise their hands to show who they were. As soon as he put it back on and finished his speech an object smashed through the window, two kunai held up a large colorful banner from the ceiling and a woman with purple hair tied up in a spiky ponytail, tan trench coat, fishnet shirt, orange skirt, and black sandals stood in front.

"Alright I'm Mitarashi Anko, your examiner for the second part of these chuunin exams!" Anko yells proudly to the surprised genin who stared at her because of her entrance except for Denko, Akane, and Haku who were trying to make themselves as small as possible out of embarrassment. "Kuso Ibiki, could you leave any more brats?"

"There is a lot of talent this year." Ibiki growls as he pushes aside the banner.

"I know but eighty one?" Anko asks.

"I bet you're happy your team is among them." Ibiki says.

"Yes I am." She whispers before turning her attention to the genin and noticed her team slowly coming back into view. "Okay you gaki follow me to where you'll take the next part of the exam, The Forest of Death." Anko says with a smile as she leaves the room with the crowd of genin in tow.

To be continued…

AN: Next chapter is the Forest of Death. Incase some of you haven't figured it out yet, Haku is a girl in this story so don't complain 'cause this is my story. So far some of the pairings are obvious and others are yet to come. Please review!

Fallenfox: Here's update update ya asked for.

Dragon Man 180: Thanks for the idea for the third part of the exam. I'm gonna put that in for sure! If ya got any other great ideas I'd like to hear them!

T.O.B.: Yea this is a story where Sasuke and Haku get together, Dragon Man 180 has a story like that as well. I like that story and I watch for updates on that story. Ya can find it in my favorite story list.

Yumi Kitsuna Kazeyokai: Yea I know in the series that Haku is a boy but like I said earlier, this is my story, my world. Haku is a girl and it's stayin' that way.

Cyber-Porygon: Thanks for the complement, and yes… YOSH! THIS STORY EXPLODES WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH!

Arigato to everyone who has reviewed! I'm hoping for thirty with this chapter as well as a small hope for having Kitsune and Dragon being on a C2. Anyway… please review!

Ja ne!

Lightning Bob


	8. The Forest of Death

Kitsune and Dragon

I don't own Naruto but Denko and Akane are mine.

Yea I'm alive, I've been having some trouble with some of my classes but that's getting taken care of. Another reason that I haven't updated for a while is that I've found some good stories to read and added some to my favorites and my C2, Lightning's Uzumaki and Hyuuga Pairings. Ja ne!

Chapter 8: The Forest of Death

"Alright you brats, listen up! This is training area 44, The Forest of Death! There are plenty of ways to die simply just walking into that place that don't involve other teams. So I'm gonna need all of you to sign these waver forms so Konoha is not responsible for anyone being injured or killed." Anko yells to the twenty seven teams that are gathered in front of her as chuunin pass the waver forms to them and collected them back. "There are forty four gates into this training ground that you may enter. There is a tower in the center of this forest ten kilometers from all entrances. Your goal is to obtain both of these scrolls and make it to the tower within five days. You may use any means necessary if you wish though we would prefer you not to kill. Each team will be given a scroll and seeing that there will not be a matching pair from the start means that one team would be eliminated right from the start and the other half of you will be eliminated from the exam because you don't have the Earth and Heaven scrolls at the tower by the fifth day. Now each team is to go to that tent to obtain their scroll and you will be escorted to your gate. Before you start I have a word of advice… don't die!"

Soon all of the teams were standing by their gates and rushed in as soon as they opened dashing for the forest where poisonous plants, large animals, traps, and other teams were sure to be found. Team Kakashi were soon ambushed by a single Kiri nin who was driven away by Sasuke's use of Katon: Housenka no Jutsu and Kiba's Gatsuuga. Team Asuma were simply wandering through the forest watching for traps and other teams. Team Gai is currently in pursuit of a fairly light footed team who Neji found with his Byakugan to have the Earth scroll they needed. Team Anko had already found a team and had taken their scroll in the first ten minutes but it wasn't the one they needed but they kept it anyway. Team Kurenai were jumping across branches at high speeds on their way to a team that Hinata found with her Byakugan.

Naruto and Kohaku dashed into the clearing where the team from Kiri was trying to set up to use as a base and threw a few kitsune bi balls at the surprised Kiri nin and covering them with a thick cloud of smoke and dust. Hinata used her Byakugan to see through the dust and told Shino where to direct his bugs that drained their targets when they found them. As the dust cloud thinned out Hinata sent Gina to grab the scroll while Naruto and Kohaku were taking the other team down slowly. Gina returned shortly with the scroll in her mouth and Hinata sent a small blast of kitsune bi into the clearing as Shino called back his bugs signaling that the scroll was in their possession and they were leaving. Unfortunately like Team Anko they had grabbed a second Earth scroll. They decided to attempt to find the other Konoha teams in hopes of them having an extra Heaven scroll and were willing to trade for their extra Earth scroll.

With Team Kakashi, things weren't going too well, it was already getting late, they haven't had anything to eat, and they had just been separated by a huge blast of wind that sent Kiba and Akamaru flying. Sasuke and Sakura were alone fighting a Kusa nin that had just frozen them with just his killing intent that was so strong that they had just envisioned their own deaths.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, I was hoping for a better challenge from the last Uchiha." The nin laughs before he threw two kunai with a flick of his wrist.

'I will not die now!' Sasuke thinks to himself as he stabs his leg with his own kunai to override the fear with pain, grabbed Sakura, and ran away to hide barely dodging the kunai.

"Very clever using pain to escape your fear, Sasuke-kun. I want your body even more now, as well as a few others here that would be quite suitable for me. So much power and talent in this generation, I get excited just thinking about it." The Kusa nin says as he emerges from the back of a giant snake that Sasuke had just killed by throwing several kunai and shuriken into its face.

"You're a sick freak, ne? Well I'm just gonna have to make you a dead freak!" Sasuke yells as he engages the man in taijutsu and several times he attempted to impale the freak with his kunai. "Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke yells blowing a huge fireball that forced the nin to jump back against the trunk of the tree that they were fighting on and quickly followed up the jutsu by throwing several shuriken that wrapped wires around the tree and bound the nin to the trunk. Some seals later Sasuke unleashed his most powerful attack in his arsenal, "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" A large dragon of fire rushed at the bound nin and burnt straight through the tree. Sakura who was watching had little doubt that both the nin and the tree were now dead. 'Poor tree' she thinks to herself.

"Impressive power Sasuke-kun, most impressive. Now I know that your body is the one that I desire!" The nin says as the smoke clears revealing that half of his face was burnt and melted away exposing a face without any color beneath it as the nin removes the rest of the face. "Allow me to formally introduce myself, I am Orochimaru, one of the legendary three Sannin." Orochimaru says with a sick smile and a mocking bow. "Before I leave you I wish to give you a small parting gift." He says as his smile gets larger and sicklier as he starts a series of seals. Suddenly his neck grew long and he sank his fangs into the joint of Sasuke's neck and shoulder before pulling away revealing a black mark on Sasuke's skin in the shape of three commas arranged in a triangle.

Orochimaru leapt away only to be struck in the face by Denko who had saw Orochimaru bite Sasuke. The Sannin was surprised to be honest, he never expected to be hit and he never noticed anyone in the immediate area. But now as he landed on his feet on a tree a dozen or so meters away from where he was hit he saw one of the people that he deemed worthy of receiving his 'gift'.

"Hey snake freak! What the hell were ya trying to do to Sasuke, give him a hickie?" Denko smirks from his branch near Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba with an injured Akamaru in his arms. By his sides are his teammates Haku and Akane ready with senbon and kunai in their hands.

"Very impressive if you can hit a Sannin, even more if you can surprise one." Orochimaru says carefully looking Denko's body over.

"Whatever ya pedophile! You're gonna be in a lot of pain when I hand you over to the Hokage if I let you live. I better not take my chances by leaving you alive and kill you now." Denko says before disappearing in a display of speed while Haku and Akane sprang in opposite directions throwing their weapons with great speed and precision. The snake Sannin jumped back to avoid the oncoming weapons and blocked the roundhouse kick from Denko with his arm but he did not expect the huge jolt of electricity to run through his body from the contact that left his arm numb.

"Very good, you managed to disable one of my arms however I should be the least of your worries at the moment…" Orochimaru says as one of his huge summoned snakes tried to eat Denko from behind, the same happened to Haku and Akane. The three of them dodged the attacks and attacked the snakes. "Arare no Jutsu!" Haku yells as chunks of hail shoot from the water pouches that she has strapped to her waist and back like bullets that shattered once inside the snake and killing it. Akane used Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu to give her snake a serious case of heartburn when it tried to strike her a second time. Denko leapt under his snake and slashed its head off with his kodachi. The distraction was all that Orochimaru needed to get feeling back in his arm and bite Denko to deliver a curse mark, but at a price, piercing Denko's skin with his fangs he found was like trying to eat lightning fresh from the cloud. It was a miracle that he lived but he contributed that fact to the large amount of chakra that had to be in his mouth when he delivered the curse that blocked most of the lightning yet it still fried him enough that his hair was fluffed up by the lightning. Akane would have laughed at the scene if Denko wasn't injured but Haku put her teammates' health aside for the moment to fill Orochimaru's arms and knees with senbon so he couldn't escape or make hand seals easily.

That was the scene that Team Kurenai saw when they arrived, Sasuke on his back being tended by Sakura, Kiba tending to Akamaru's injuries on a nearby branch, Akane holding a barely conscious Denko in a sitting position who was holding the base of his neck with one hand, and Haku staring down Orochimaru who had an afro and arms and knees filled with senbon.

"What the hell? Haku, is that Orochimaru with fluffy hair?" Naruto asks as he lands on the same branch as the girl with the other three kitsune b his side and Shino on the branch above.

"Hai that's him. He did something to Denko and Sasuke when he bit their necks. It's like they've been poisoned but there was no poison involved, just that bastard's chakra." Haku explains.

Before anyone knew what happened, Naruto had hit Orochimaru in the face with a ball of kitsune bi, it's unnatural flames causing more damage than natural flames but getting the desired effect; horribly burning half of the mans face, burning the clothes off of his upper body leaving burns that don't even compare to his face, and best of all exactly half of his hair burnt off of his head and without any chance of growing back. Before the surprised Sannin could even curse at the kitsune hanyou a second ball of kitsune bi guaranteed that he would no longer have the equipment to reproduce. The second ball was thrown by Hinata. Both kitsune hanyou have kitsune bi burning on their feet, hands, and the ends of all of their tails, Hinata's Byakugan is active, and the whites of their eyes was red. Needless to say that they were pissed as was Orochimaru who was in as much pain as he was mad. The kitsune leapt at him with full intent on gutting him where he stood with their claws but Orochimaru used a jutsu to quickly bind them in branches and vines and gave them both curse marks before they burnt and ripped through. As soon as he did he took off the best he could with his burns and limbs filled with needles. The kitsune hanyou ripped from their bounds just before they succumbed to the effects of the curse marks and the burst of rage, passed out, and fell to the forest floor but they were caught from their fall by Team Gai who had come to investigate the fight.

It was dark because the sun had set a few hours ago and the teams had decided to stay together since there was strength in numbers, three teams were weakened considerably, and because Team Kurenai and Team Anko could trade their extra scrolls with each other so they would have both scrolls that they needed. Gina and Kohaku were keeping watch over Naruto and Hinata who had somehow curled together into a comfortable fur ball in there sleep even though they were on opposite sides of the group that was tending to them and nobody had noticed until they were together. Although the group was surprised about the unconscious kitsune hanyou stealth they were relieved to see that both of them visibly relaxed at the others touch. In the darkness of the night one could see the glow of their red demonic chakra slowly eating away the curse mark.

Denko, under Akane's care, was doing just as well; his draconic chakra was eating away the curse though small sparks of electricity would leap from the area randomly. Sasuke was in the worst condition, not only staying but at one point during the night he had woken and tried to sit up only to be knocked out again by a kick from Sakura that was aimed at Haku because they were fighting over who gets to take care of him. The rest of them were either asleep or keeping watch for other teams. During his watch that night Neji had seen the Oto team spying on them from the bushes but they soon retreated out of range of his Byakugan. He figured that they didn't want to attempt to attack a large group even if a third of them were in no condition to fight.

The next morning however the Oto genin team returned and attacked the Konoha teams. Sasuke was in no better condition than last night, Denko, Naruto, and Hinata were clear of the curse mark but were still unconscious. The Oto nin had first sent a squirrel into the clearing with a paper bomb on its back but Sakura scared it away by throwing a kunai in front of it. One of the Oto nin, Zaku, then came charging out of the brush to attack the group but his attack was prevented by a trap that swung a large log in his path. His teammate, Dosu, ran in front of him and somehow destroyed the log with one swing of his right arm that had a strange device on it.

"Clever, but futile. You cannot defeat or defend yourselves from our attacks." Dosu says as the group looked on in surprise.

"Nothing can stop us! Those lame jutsu that you use are nothing to ours. What we use are the jutsu of the future!" Zaku laughs as small jets of air shoot from his palms.

"Would you like to test that theory? You look like you have nothing but hot air." Neji smirks.

"Let me test myself against them Neji! I will prove myself to be worthy of the heart of Sakura-chan!" Lee shouts.

"Go ahead."

"YOSH! I WILL SHOW THEM THE POWER OF YOUTH!" Lee shouts at the top of his lungs and vanished from sight in a burst of speed. "Konoha Gouriki Senpuu!" Lee yells as he spins and slams his heel into the head of Dosu, sending the nin flying a few meters away. Not to leave Zaku out Lee smashes the boy in the face with a straight punch before jumping into the air as Tenten throws kunai at the two he had hit. Dosu recovered just in time to block the kunai thrown at him with the device on his arm while Zaku used his air holes to blast the kunai off target.

"You like playing with wind, ne? Well I can do that too." Neji says as he approaches Zaku and sliding into his Jyuuken stance.

"As if you could beat me! You're a Hyuuga, your pitiful clan only use taijutsu to close your opponent's tenketsu. Lets see how well you fight if you can't even touch me!" Zaku smirks as he sends a few tiny jets of air through his palms.

"Like I said before, I like to play with wind myself…Hakke Kusho!" Neji says thrusting his open palm at Zaku releasing a huge blast of wind that threw the surprised boy a tree leaving a good impression in the wood. Zaku didn't move from where he fell to the ground and the kunoichi of the team, Kin, didn't make an effort to do anything as she watched from the relative safety of a high branch at the edge of the clearing. That was quickly changed when Haku decided to use the girl for target practice with her senbon and effectively disabled her.

Lee was having a much worse time with his opponent who used a sound amplifier to amplify sounds and direct them with his chakra into his opponents' inner ear to disrupt their balance. Unfortunately Lee had already been subjected to that technique and was knocked out when it was used on him a second time. When he attempted to finish him off he was stopped by a small blast of flames that turned out to be Akane's fists that were aflame without causing her any harm.

"If ya know what's best for ya you'll run away really fast." Akane warns.

"Ah but we have orders to kill anyone that Orochimaru-sama has marked." Dosu replies.

"You will not touch my Denko-kun!" Akane screams as she swings her burning fists at Dosu unsuccessfully before he hit her in the face with the amplifier knocking her into a tree barely conscious.

"I think we should make some nice kitsune pelts to keep warm during the winter Dosu. There's so much fur here." Zaku says after he had slipped away from Neji and had blasted everyone inside the cave shelter against the walls either knocking them out or stunning them enough that they were no threat at the moment. At least that's what Zaku thought, as he calmly walked into the cave three chakra signatures flared. Sasuke rose as the curse mark spread across his body, Denko stood in his hanyou form, his hair is longer and more wild, claws, fangs, pointed ears, and wings from his back. His eyes glowed blue in the darkness as he stalked forward with Naruto who had become more uncontrollable and had red eyes.

"You hurt Akane-chan/ Hinata-chan." They say as one as they approach Zaku who was getting more scared by the second. Behind him Neji had also gone into a silent rage though one could tell by the claws on his hands and the wings on his back as he slowly walked towards Zaku. To his left was Sasuke with what he recognized as the curse seals' level one activated.

"You hurt Haku-chan." Sasuke says as he grabs Zaku's left arm as Neji grabs his right arm, Denko grabs his left leg, and Naruto grabbed his right.

"W-why don't you two have curse marks? Orochimaru-sama said he put it on the Uchiha, Hyuuga heiress, and both Uzumaki. How is that only Uchiha has it on him?" Dosu asks with obvious fear and confusion in his voice.

"We're not entirely human, not even the Hyuuga genius after we shared blood a few years ago." Denko says with obvious joy at making the Oto nin too scared to move while the one in his grasp wet his pants in fright.

"So what should we do with this trash?" Naruto asks with a sadistic grin.

"He seems pretty attached to his arms, lets' fix that." Sasuke says as he tightens his grip on Zaku's arm and puts his left foot on his ribs.

"I agree but we should do the same with his legs so he can't sneak around anymore." Neji says as he tightens his grip and places his right foot on Zaku's ribcage.

"Sounds like a great idea." Naruto and Denko say as one as they both place their feet between his legs and putting a little pressure on the sensitive area.

"All together?" Neji smiles.

"Ichi… ni…san…hajime!" they all count down and pull on the boys limbs as they push with their feet crushing his ribs and groin while the limbs are dislocated and he was dropped to the ground in a heap. Seeing that Zaku was unconscious from the pain the four boys turn their gaze to Dosu.

"I will take my team away and leave you our scroll." Dosu says as he slowly places the scroll on the ground.

"Let them go." Haku says stumbling from the cave and Sasuke was at her side in an instant and the curse mark began to recede and he passed out in her arms. Sakura saw the whole thing and was hurt that she couldn't do the same for the last Uchiha that she cared for. Naruto had already ran back to Hinata, passed out from overexerting his already tired body and curled back up with Hinata as Kohaku and Gina joined the fur ball to keep watch over them. Denko walked over to Akane and carried her back to the cave and fell asleep with her in his lap and her head on his shoulder. Neji kept his wilder appearance until Dosu left carrying Kin and Zaku under each arm before giving the scroll to Sakura because it was the scroll that they needed to enter the tower. After that he helped a dazed Tenten to her feet and they dragged Lee back to the cave.

The next morning the group was capable of proceeding to the tower, even if they moved slower than normal they maintained a decent speed and made it to the tower by evening after taking out a team from Ame. There they found that the Suna team had made it on the first day and had killed an Ame team within a minute. After they had med nin take care of their injuries they told their sensei and the Hokage about their confrontation with Orochimaru and the curse marks. Sarutobi took Sasuke to a secluded room and sealed the curse so that it wouldn't spread or gain strength until he could get one or both of his old students back to help him either seal it even better or remove the curse. Hiashi was outraged that his daughter and the heir of the Main family of the Hyuuga clan had the curse mark put on her but after he was shown that the curse was somehow gone, not just from her but Naruto and Denko and told him what they did to the Sannin he could only praise them. When he told the Elder council they were impressed, they were thinking that even if Hinata had the power they expected from her, they did not like the fact that she is a kitsune hanyou because her pure Hyuuga blood was tainted by a youkai, specifically Kyuubi. Now they saw that even if she was soft spoken she had the courage and power to be a powerful leader.

During the next two days the Oto team, Team Asuma, and Kabuto's team made it to the tower. Kabuto and his team looked like they had simply taken their time with this part of the exam while Oto team came with a limping Zaku who had both arms in slings. All of the genin teams stood in front of the Hokage as he announced that the arena in the tower would be the site of the preliminaries for the third round of the chuunin exams since there were so many that made it to the third round. The judge for the preliminaries, Gekkou Hayate, stepped forward.

"Are there any of you who wish to quit now?" Hayate asks with a few coughs.

"I quit!" Kabuto calls out with his hand in the air. The other genin looked at him in confusion, he didn't look tired or even injured, and the most was a few smudges of dirt.

"Anyone else?" Hayate asks and after a few seconds of silence he continued. "Because there are twenty three of you someone will get through without having to fight. The matches will be one on one, and you may use any jutsu or weapons you wish. The fight is over if your opponent is unconscious, unable to continue, gives up, or dead. We would advise you to give up over being killed to keep the mortality rate down. The matches will be displayed on the screen." The stone cover over the said screen slides down as he says this. "Your matches will be chosen randomly. You may watch the matches from the balconies on either side of the arena. First match, Uchiha Sasuke versus Akadou Yori."

"They didn't waste any time calling me out there?" Sasuke scoffs as the other genin climb the stairs to the balconies, separating into two groups; Konoha on one side and all others on the other side.

Sasuke and Yori stand in the middle of the floor ready to fight, just waiting for…

"Hajime!" Hayate says before jumping out of the way.

Yori did a few hand seals before his right hand glowed blue and he thrust that hand at Sasuke who dodged only to find that the older boy was as fast as or faster than him as he grabbed Sasuke's arm. Sasuke tried to pull away only to find that he was feeling weak.

"You're draining my chakra." Sasuke says before kicking Yori away.

"You only noticed that now? My Sabaki no Genki drains you of chakra and physical energy, making you as helpless as a kitten or in your case even more helpless.

Sasuke frowns at what his opponent says before performing an attack that he had seen once while watching Lee train with his Sharingan activated. "Konoha Senpuu!" he yells as he kicks Yori's chin sending him high into the air before jumping under him. "Kage Konoha Buyou. From here it's all original…Shi Shi Rendan!" Sasuke kick is blocked by Yori's left arm but he uses the momentum of the kick to flip around and slam his leg into Yori's stomach. Continuing his spin Sasuke delivers a backhand to his sternum before dropping his heel in the same spot just as he hit the ground.

"The winner is Uchiha Sasuke." Hayate announces seeing that Yori wasn't moving. Med nins came and carried the boy away on a stretcher as Sasuke joined his fellow Konoha genin and their Jounin sensei. "The next match is Haruno Sakura versus Momochi Haku!" Hayate calls after reading the screen.

"Good luck Haku." Anko says as the girl walks by.

"Nani? She should be able to beat the girl no problem." Denko says to Anko loud enough for Haku to hear.

"Ya got that right, Sakura's the weakest genin here." Akane says loud enough for everyone to hear her that was in the room. Sakura had a vain popping out of her forehead at the comments that were said while Haku simply smirked.

"I'm going to beat and win Sasuke-kun from you." Sakura says with determination in her voice.

"Words only go so far, let's see you back them up 'cause Sasuke-kun is mine." Haku smirks.

"Hajime!" Hayate yells before jumping back faster and farther away than he had for the first match because he didn't want to get caught in the middle of two girls fighting for a boy while Sasuke sweat drops with a tinge of pink on his cheeks.

Haku started the fight by throwing three senbon at Sakura who deflected them with a kunai before charging and creating two bushin alongside of her to confuse Haku who saw through the illusion and threw a senbon at each Sakura. All of the Sakura were destroyed which surprised Haku, Sakura had run behind the other girl while distracting her with the bushin. Now that she was behind Haku, Sakura threw two kunai at her back before jumping high and throwing threw more. Haku rolled to the side and created two Mizu Bushin from her water pouches and all three charged Sakura who was still falling. Sakura was engaged in taijutsu as soon as she touched the ground and was easily overwhelmed by skill, speed, strength, and numbers. Jumping out of the fray Sakura was panting hard and barely holding her own under Haku's attacks while Haku was hardly breathing hard. Haku gave the other girl no time to recover as she and her mizu bushin unleashed a rain of senbon. Sakura ran, jumped, dodged, and tried everything she could think of but she was rendered unable to continue within minutes and Haku was declared the winner. Sakura was taken away by med nin to have the senbon removed and to recover while Haku ran back up the stairs and hugged HER Sasuke a little too hard; everyone in the room could hear joints popping.

Even Gaara who normally kept an emotionless mask showed his surprise and confusion at the display of affection and decided to carefully watch the Konoha shinobi as some seemed to be a little closer than others, Naruto and Hinata had their arms around each other as they watched the other fights with their kitsune friends on their shoulders. Gaara felt Shukaku tell him to talk to the five-tailed kitsune hanyou because there were some questions he had that he wanted answers to. When Gaara began to question the tanuki, Shukaku just told him to do it and he could sleep for a month straight if he wanted without problems, Gaara didn't need to be asked twice and quickly took the offer since to him sleep was more valuable than anything.

"Round three; Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba." Hayate announces as the two boys and their partners jump to the floor from the balcony.

"I'm gonna beat you easy kitsune." Kiba sneers.

"You've said that the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, and the time before that… kuso, I lost count how many times I beat you demo I know how many times you beat me, zero!" Naruto laughs.

"Hajime!" Hayate says before jumping back. It was a good thing he did because Kiba charged straight through where he had stood before punching at Naruto as Akamaru and Kohaku dashed away from the boys to fight each other. Naruto dodged Kiba's punch and drove his knee into his stomach before grabbing Kiba's jacket and throwing the stunned boy to the farthest corner from himself.

"Kohaku! Get over here and cover your nose!" Naruto yells as he jams his fingers up his nose as he runs into a corner. All those from Konoha instantly knew what Naruto did and they all franticly began covering their noses and mouths as the foreign nins looked on in confusion. Kiba was struggling to get the object of fear off of him by pulling his clothes off but all he got off was his jacket before the Hanabi Death Bomb exploded in a small cloud of pale green gas that quickly spread from Kiba who had already dropped to the floor swirly-eyed, twitching, and unconscious. Everyone in the room smelt the gas and all became at least a little faint before Naruto used the jutsu to suck the gas into an empty pill, after which everyone sighed in relief.

"The winner is Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate declares as med nin wearing masks over their noses and mouths took the smelly Kiba, his discarded jacket, and a puppy that was in serious need of a bath away and Naruto jumped back up to the balcony next to Hinata.

"Why do you have Hanabi Death Bombs with you?" Hinata asks.

"They're a great way to avoid a fight ya don't want to get into, why?" Naruto says scratching the back of his head.

"Kuso! I forgot that I have a few with me too. I should've shoved one up the nose of that snake teme." Denko says angrily, mentally kicking himself for not using his opportunity to capture or kill the Sannin.

"Too late now demo you should try that if you meet him again." Neji says.

"Round four: Abumi Zaku versus Hyuuga Neji." Hayate announces. Zaku visibly paled at the fact that he was supposed to fight not just one of the four who had pulled his limbs from their sockets but he was fighting the Hyuuga genius as he slowly made his way down the stairs to where his opponent was already waiting for him with a barely noticeable smirk on his face. "Hajime!" Hayate shouts before jumping back once again.

'I had better make this quick or I won't stand a chance. I'm still healing from what those teme did to me.' Zaku thinks as he watches Neji slide into a basic Jyuuken stance. "I'm gonna make this quick ya teme, Zankuuha!" Zaku shouts as air blasts from his right palm directed at Neji who slid back across the floor even though he had anchored his feet with chakra until he hit the wall.

"Is that all you've got? Pathetic. Hakke Kusho!" Neji shouts as he thrusts his open palm at Zaku directing his own blast of air that sent the other boy crashing into the wall.

"I-I can't believe it, you fixed my shoulder. Now I can really fight you!" Zaku says pulling himself to his feet and releasing his left arm from its sling before charging the Hyuuga. Zaku tried to punch Neji in the face but that was blocked effortlessly and a few tenketsu were closed at the same time. Zaku jumped out of range of Neji's immediate attack range, raised both arms, and focused all of his chakra into the tubes in his arms shouting, "Zankuukyohuha!" Neji was blasted by powerful winds for less than a quarter of a second before Zaku's arms exploded.

"H-How did t-that h-happen?" Zaku gasps as he stares at the remains of his arms that had large chunks of flesh missing sporadically.

"Simple, I merely plugged your holes with my chakra when I closed the tenketsu in your hands." Neji explains before Zaku makes a desperate attempt to head butt him but he countered by stepping to the side and tripping him while chopping at his neck effectively sending the boy into a pain filled slumber.

"The winner is Hyuuga Neji!" Hayate says as the medic nin rush Zaku to the hospital for treatment and Neji walks back up the stairs to join his fellow Konoha nin where Tenten pounced on him with a nearly bone crushing hug.

Gaara observed their actions closely, trying to understand what they meant and why they were done. **"It's something called love gaki. Talk to that kitsune, he'll explain it better than I can because I don't have much experience in that department."** Shukaku says in his mind, Gaara simply nodded to himself.

"Round five; Tsurugi Misumi versus Uzumaki Denko." Hayate says as the two Konoha genin walk down the stairs and take their places in the middle of the floor. "Hajime!"

Denko started the fight by dashing in and punching Misumi in the cheek but to his surprise his opponent didn't at least stumble back like he expected him to, Misumi's arms and legs wrapped around his own arms, legs and neck ready to break his neck at any time.

"What the hell is this?" Denko gasps trying to move but Misumi just squeezed tighter to prevent him from moving.

"Do you like my shuushuku? I can dislocate all of my joints and then control my body perfectly with my chakra. Give up now and I won't snap your neck." Misumi explains adding a little pressure to Denko's neck.

"As if I'm gonna give up so easily!" Denko yells and releases a huge surge of electricity from his whole body. With his body wrapped around Denko's, Misumi had no way to avoid the shock and in his final moment of consciousness his jerked Denko's head causing a loud crack that everyone in the room heard before they both dropped to the floor.

Hayate examined Misumi first, finding burns where he was in contact with Denko but alive. When he turned his attention to the other boy he found that he wasn't on the floor anymore but walking to the stairs saying something about thanking Misumi for getting that crick out of his neck when he wakes up.

"The winner is Uzumaki Denko." Hayate says sweat dropping at the boys actions after his opponent nearly snapped his neck.

"Alright you won nii-san!" Naruto says still holding Hinata.

"What did you expect? Maybe if we become chuunin some of those shinobi and villagers won't hate you as much." Denko says recalling memories of some of the older ninja and villagers who openly admitted that they believed that Naruto was the Kyuubi that attacked the village that October tenth twelve years ago. Those who did had received various punishments; the shinobi were hauled away for a 'talk' with Ibiki and got a more or less dangerous prank when they returned, the villagers simply got the prank and a Hyuuga style warning.

"Round six, Tenten versus Temari." Hayate says and both girls walk down the stairs and face off. "Hajime!"

Tenten flipped away from Temari while throwing several shuriken and kunai with speed and precision that most jounin don't have but they fell to the floor harmlessly without even touching Temari.

"Ichi no Hoshi." Temari smirks holding her fan in one hand that revealed a single purple dot.

Tenten responded by throwing several dozen kunai and shuriken at the other girl but they too dropped to the floor without touching her.

"Ni no Hoshi." Temari smirks once again holding her fan that showed two spots instead of one.

"It seems that I'm really gonna have to get serious." Tenten says as she places two scrolls on the floor, one on each side, and performing a series of hand seals. "Soushouryuu!" she shouts as she jumps between the two dragons made of smoke that turned into open scrolls. Tenten merely touched the seals on the scrolls and weapons appeared in her hands with a puff of smoke and each was thrown at the fan wielder rapidly dozens of times.

"San no Hoshi." Temari says as she swings her fan with three spots showing and deflecting all of the weapons with a gust of wind.

"I'm not done yet!" Tenten yells as she pulls her hands back revealing that she had wires attached to the weapons she threw. They were lifted in the air and sent at Temari who blew them away again before attacking her opponent.

"Kamaitachi!" Temari yells as she swung her fan creating a small tornado around Tenten that lifted her off the ground while cutting her in various places before dissipating and dropping the girl to the hard stone floor, unconscious.

"The winner is Temari." Hayate says seeing that Tenten wasn't moving. Neji and Lee jumped to the arena floor to check her injuries before med nins took her away to the hospital for her injuries. Denko stayed on the balcony and saw that most of her injuries weren't too serious and knew that she was a tough girl so he knew that she'd be alright.

"Tenten…" Neji whispers as he joins the others on the balcony.

"Don't worry too much about her or people might start thinking you're a softy." Denko smirks.

"I'm no softy, I'm the strongest that the Hyuuga clan has had for a hundred years." Neji says in his defense.

"True but then again Hinata-chan is pretty strong as well, probably give you a run for your money." Denko smirks.

"It's…possible but I'd have to admit, a fight between the Hyuuga and Uzumaki would be something worth seeing." Neji says.

"A lot of Konoha genin here are powerful, ya just gotta find a good reason to fight to find their true capabilities. From what I've heard, all of us genin are the strongest that Konoha has produced since the Sannin, possibly a new generation of Sannin with even greater numbers and the best part is that most of us are heirs to our clans." Denko says.

"Round seven: Kankuro versus Yamanaka Ino." Hayate says as the two genin face each other in the arena. Kankuro dropped the heavy bundle he had on his back on the floor and was smirking at Ino. Ino was having second thoughts about fighting this guy.

'I don't think I can beat this guy by myself, maybe Chouji could but there's no way I can beat him unless I use my Shintenshin no Jutsu on him as soon as I can get a clear shot.'

"Hajime!"

Ino pulled out some kunai and threw them at Kankuro who dove to the side to avoid the projectiles and in the process he dropped the bandaged package. Ino threw some shuriken at the boy who was just getting back to his feet but they were deflected by Kankuro's own. She kept on the offensive trying to land a blow but all of her punches and kicks were either blocked or dodged while the older boy simply smirked at her and never fought back.

"You're really annoying you know that right?" Kankuro asks tauntingly.

"Well you're ugly and don't have any fashion sense!" Ino yelled back clearly frustrated that her opponent was merely toying with her. Pulling out another kunai she tries to stab and slash the boy to no avail, he simply dodged all of her attacks.

"Well I had my fun with you and you're getting boring so I'll just beat you now." Kankuro says as he slowly approaches the tired girl.

"I don't think so, Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino yells transferring her mind and soul into Kankuro but something wasn't right. This wasn't a person or even something that was alive! She canceled the jutsu and found that she was wrapped in a bone crushing hug with no way to escape or even move for that matter.

"Do you give up?" says a voice from the bandaged bundle. Inside something moves before the bandages unravel to reveal the real Kankuro as the face of the one holding Ino broke off in pieces to show a wooden face with three eyes as it squeezed a little tighter.

"I give up!" Ino gasps before the puppet gives one last squeeze to knock her out before dropping her.

"The winner is Kankuro." Hayate says as Kankuro rewraps Karasu while med nins take Ino away.

"So far it's two wins for Suna with one undecided, one loss for Oto with two undecided, and five wins for Konoha with six loses and seven undecided. Me, Denko, Neji, Haku, Temari, Kankuro, and Sasuke-teme have passed so far." Naruto says.

"So that leaves that Gaara guy, those two Oto nin, me, Akane, Shino, Chouji, and Shikamaru." Hinata says.

"I wonder who's next?" Naruto says as he looks at the competition.

"Round eight: Kin versus Honoo Akane." Hayate says and the girls jump from the balcony to the center. "Hajime!"

Akane jumps back as Kin throws six senbon at her and dodges them before throwing a kunai at her which is dodged by rolling to the side.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Akane yells as she blows several small but powerful fireballs at Kin but only managed to give her a small burn on her thigh.

"You burnt me so I'm going to mess with your head so you can't hit me." Kin says as she throws two senbon at Akane but they miss and lodge themselves in the wall.

"Oh really? It seems that you can't hit me either!" Akane smirks as she holds three shuriken in each hand. Kin just smirks and moves her fingers and in the light Akane saw that there were wires attached to her fingers that ran to small bells on the two senbon that are in the wall. They jingled a light melody that caused Akane's vision to blur and soon there were seven Kin in front of her.

"Kami kuso." Akane grumbles as she tries to distinguish the real Kin out of the seven in front of her.

"You had better give up, you're a disgrace to kunoichi." Kin smirks as she throws several senbon into Akane's shoulders.

Up in the balcony Denko, Haku, and Anko all share the same thought, 'Oh shit!'

"I am a kunoichi of Konoha! There are no disgraces here!" Akane shouts as flames erupt from her body blasting the senbon out of her and her irises changed from brown to flame patterned originating from her pupils. "Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu! Katon: Goukokyuu no Jutsu!"

Kin barely escaped the fireball that was the result of the seven huge fireballs exploding and scorching at least half of the arena walls and floor. Dosu, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari all had to jump to the stairs to avoid being roasted in the flames. Denko was currently making a mental billboard, 'DO NOT MAKE AKANE MAD!' and many mental notes on what could piss her off and how much they do piss her off so he could hopefully not get her mad at him.

Akane was not thinking about anything else but how to make the girl suffer for insulting her. She had activated her Kekkai Genkai; Kaen, which surrounded her in flames that harmed anyone who would try to touch her and she could use any Katon jutsu she knows as long as she has the chakra to perform it without hand seals.

"You really pissed me off. Burn, Katon: Kakryuu Endan!" Akane says as a flaming dragon head is blown from her mouth and destroys a section of the wall behind Kin who is knocked out from the explosion of fire and rock that she was on the edge of and suffered some horrible burns on her left side and most of her clothes along with some of her hair were burnt off.

"The winner is Honoo Akane!" Hayate says after he checks Kin. "Get the med nin in here now!" he shouts.

The med nin placed the girl on the stretcher before covering her body with a genjutsu to protect her modesty as Akane deactivated he Kaen and started to fall over from exhaustion until Denko caught her. Unfortunately her body temperature was still several hundred degrees from the flames as he found, the hard way, and let everyone know.

"HOOOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!" Denko yells waving his burnt, red hands in the air in an attempt to cool them off until Haku covered his hands in water. In the process Denko had dropped Akane and she was knocked out from exhaustion and slamming her head on the stone floor. "Kuso." Denko mutters when he noticed her on the floor.

"Don't worry about her, I'll carry her up." Haku says lifting the unconscious girl into the air with water before walking up the stairs with her teammates in tow where she set Akane on the floor to rest and cool down. Denko was stopped by Naruto who was laughing at him getting burnt by his girlfriend before he was kicked into the wall, Hinata was experienced enough to step away because she knew that was going to happen.

"That hurt you know." Naruto says as he stands rubbing his head.

"Sure you are, you gotta have one of the thickest skulls in Konoha." Denko smirks.

"And proud of it." Naruto grins.

"Round nine: Sabaku no Gaara versus Rock Lee." Hayate says. Gaara vanishes in a swirl of sand and appears in another swirl in the arena while Lee jumped from the balcony into his taijutsu stance. "Hajime!"

"I hope that you provide a great challenge for me." Lee says.

"…"

"Very well, I shall begin!" Lee says before charging at Gaara and tries to punch him but the attack was blocked by a wall of sand as Gaara stood there without moving a muscle. Lee tried to hit the sand user with multiple punches and kicks from all angles but nothing got through Gaara's Suna no Tate.

"Gaara's Suna no Tate can't be penetrated. It's not even under Gaara's control, it's an automatic defense." Kankuro says from the Konoha balcony. He had decided that it was safer here than on the other with his brother and the half collapsed balcony after the last match.

"I believe that it is time to get serious." Lee says and his movements become a blur as he pushes himself harder and manages to get through Gaara's sand Suna no Tate but still never touching him. Seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere Lee back flipped away as Gaara's sand tried to grab him.

"Lee!" Gai says with a smile, "Take them off!"

"Yes sir!" Lee salutes and lifts his orange leg warmers revealing weights.

"Leg weights? What will dropping a few kilos do?" Temari asks as Lee drops the weights to the floor breaking the stone slabs and shaking the room.

"That is much better, now I can truly fight you with everything I have!" Lee says before vanishing in a display of speed. He reappears with his leg extended in a high kick with Gaara flying through the air and his sand rising to block the attack too late. Lee jumps away from the sand as it tries to grab him while Gaara was caught by his sand. Lee started running circles around Gaara as a blur kicking up dust.

"I don't believe it! He hit Gaara!" Kankuro and Temari say.

"Is that all you got?" Gaara says.

"No I do not, allow me to show you the power of youth!" Lee says before pummeling Gaara's Suna no Tate when it was fast enough to block, most of the blows actually hit the Suna genin much to everyone's surprise. Lee suddenly started back flipping away from Gaara as waves of sand stuck at him and eventually hit him. Lee tumbled headfirst into the stone floor and sprang away just as another wave of sand attempted to crush him.

"Hold still." Gaara mutters as he continues his attack.

"I will not. Initial Gate, open! Heal Gate, open!" Lee says unlocking two of the Celestial Gates and him a huge power boost. Lee completely disappears and Gaara is kicked into the air and hit repeatedly with his sand blocking very few blows at Lee's amazing speed.

"Omote Renge!" Lee yells as he drives Gaara headfirst into the ground while spinning and jumping out of the way at the last second. Unfortunately all that was in the crater was the remains of a Suna Bushin falling apart. Just as Lee saw that his opponent wasn't defeated yet, Gaara wrapped his left arm and leg in sand.

"Sabaku Kyuu." Gaara says holding out his open hand before clenching his fist muttering "Sabaku Sousou."

The attack broke the bones in both his arm and leg before the sand released its grip and retreated back into the gourd on Gaara's back as he walks away leaving a defeated Rock Lee and Hayate announcing his victory. Gaara walked up to Kankuro and stared at him.

"Go to Temari… I need to speak with Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara says and Kankuro quickly did what his otouto told him to. Gaara then turned his attention to Naruto and Hinata who were watching him. "Uzumaki Naruto… I need to speak with you."

"Sure after these preliminaries are over. We can meet at Ichiraku's and eat while we talk. Okay?" Naruto says.

"Fine… I look forward to our talk." Gaara says before disappearing in a swirl of sand and reappearing with his siblings.

"Round ten: Akimichi Chouji versus Hyuuga Hinata." Hayate says.

"This should be fun, ne?" Hinata asks dropping into her Jyuuken stance.

"I just hope I win, Asuma-sensei said he'd treat me to bar-b-que if I win this." Chouji says as he drops into a ready stance.

"Hajime!" Hayate says and jumps back.

"Baika no Jutsu! Ningyoushibai no Koutestu!" Chouji yells as he becomes a giant ball of flesh and rolls at high speeds at Hinata who jumps out of the way and Chouji crashed into a wall where he got stuck.

'This is my chance to finish him!' Hinata says to herself as she activates her Byakugan and charges at Chouji who is trying to get out of the wall by spinning in reverse and finally spins free just as Hinata gets close and hits her.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto yells seeing Hinata fly through the air from barely touching Chouji.

Hinata rights herself in midair and lands on her feet holding her left shoulder watching Chouji make a U-turn and roll at her again.

"Kitsune Bi!" Hinata says as she blasts streams of the mystical blue flames not just from her hands but also from the tip of each of her four tails all aiming for Chouji. The flames were enough to make Chouji turn away before he received serious burns and he crashed into another wall and getting stuck again. This time Hinata was fast enough to get to him before he started spinning and began closing the major tenketsu and stopped the jutsu. Chouji was too dizzy from all of his spinning and Hinata had blocked his chakra system enough to keep him from moving much.

"The winner is Hyuuga Hinata!" Hayate says as Med nin take the chubby boy away to rest.

"Hinata-chan! How's your shoulder?" Naruto asks as Hinata joins them on the balcony.

"I'm fine Naruto-kun, it'll back to normal in an hour or two. We heal faster than most other people remember?" Hinata says with a giggle as she hugs Naruto who returns the gesture. Gaara merely watched the exchange of affection.

"Final round: Kinata Dosu versus Aburame Shino. Nara Shikamaru passes by default." Hayate says as both opponents make their way to the center of the arena and Shikamaru simply sighs and watches. "Hajime!"

Dosu started the fight by engaging Shino in taijutsu, it proved to be a fatal mistake as the kekkai insects swarmed from Shino's sleeves and latched onto Dosu and began to eat his chakra.

"What the hell is this?" Dosu yells as he tries in vain to get the bugs off of him.

"They are called kekkai insects, a rare species of beetle that eats chakra. A swarm that size will drain you within a minute. I suggest that you give up now before you die of chakra depletion." Shino says in a calm monotone voice.

"I don't think so!" Dosu yells as he swings his amplifier and uses the sound waves to confuse the insects enough to get them off of him. He turns around just in time to see Shino hit him with a back fist that sent him through one of the holes made by Chouji and effectively knocking him out against a rock.

"The winner is Aburame Shino. Will all winners form a line in the arena now." Hayate says as the Sandaime and the twelve winners met in the arena.

"Each of you have proven your skill that separates you from the rest of the genin who attempted these tests. You will have one month to hone your skills for the one on one fights where you will be fighting for the rank of chuunin. You do not need to win the tournament to become a chuunin although it raises your chances. It is also a great way to display your skills for possible clients for your villages. I wish each of you luck and hope that you will all try your hardest in the next stage of the chuunin exams. You will be escorted out of the forest after which you may leave to train. I look forward to great results in this next round. You're dismissed." Sarutobi says then poofs away.

Sasuke, Haku, Naruto, Hinata, Neji, Denko, Akane, Shino, Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara were all escorted to the hospital room where they were treated for any injuries they may have received during their fights and released shortly after.

"So we have three whole teams make it to the third round of the chuunin exams, highly unusual." An ANBU says to the Hokage as they head back to the Hokage tower in the village.

"Unusual yes, but that just proves that this generation may be the strongest in many generations. There is a lot of talent and potential in this group and I'd hate to see it go to waste if Orochimaru follows through with his threat. It's a good thing that I've convinced the Kazekage to help us capture Orochimaru instead of helping him invade Konohagakure." Sarutobi says.

"Hai Hokage-sama." The ANBU says.

"So Gaara, what did you want to talk about?" Naruto asks as everyone was leaving with his arm and tails around Hinata's waist.

"I have Shukaku, the one tailed tanuki sealed in me. He has never let me sleep at all without unleashing him into the world to cause massive destruction. Now he has agreed to let me sleep peacefully just to speak with you." Gaara explains. His siblings were shocked to hear their little brother not only say so much at one time but say it without an underlying death threat.

"So what does he want? I had the Kyuubi sealed into me when it was forced to attack Konoha when I was born and changed me into a hanyou." Naruto says.

"**Tell ya what gaki, if Kyuubi was willing to combine himself with that gaki when he was sealed I could do the same with you. Of course you'd become a hanyou as well but you'd still have my powers and I wouldn't exist in this world anymore, I'll join my friend Kyuubi in the next world. Do we have a deal?" **Shukaku says in Gaara's mind.

'Yes if it means keeping my sanity.' Gaara thinks back to Shukaku.

"**Good but I have a few things for you to do before I really let you sleep. It should only take you a day to finish then you can go to sleep and I'll transform you."** Shukaku says.

"Uzumaki Naruto, it has been very… helpful speaking with you. I will see you both in the finals." Gaara says before walking away with his siblings and Baki their jounin sensei.

"So what did suna boy talk to you about otouto?" Denko asks.

"Nothing much, lets go home." Naruto says as e walks away with Hinata to follow Kurenai and the other jounin out of the tower with the others right behind them.

To be continued…

AN: Hey everyone tell me what ya think of the story so far by reviewing. I'm also looking for staff for my C2 community and if anyone is interested send me a review. Anyway I'll be a little busy for a while so I probably won't update until around Thanksgiving when I'll be posting the other three or four chapters that I left at home.

Ja ne!

Lightning Bob


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